Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) march during a parade to commemorate the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), in Tehran on Sep. 22, 2010. Photo: Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl/File photo

i24 News – Unnamed Israeli security officials said on Friday that the country’s Mossad spy agency managed to prevent three Iranian terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians in the Turkish megapolis of Istanbul in recent days, according to Hebrew-language media reports.

On Thursday, Turkey reported detaining eight members of an Iranian terrorist squad, prompting Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid to thank Ankara for their efforts to protect Israelis.

“The lives of Israeli citizens have been saved in recent weeks thanks to security and diplomatic cooperation between Israel and Turkey,” Lapid said during a visit to Turkey.

His Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu pledged that the government would “will never allow any terror attacks against Israelis to take place in our country.”

Israel last week urged its citizens to leave Turkey immediately because of “possible” threats from Iranian operatives. Iran has vowed to avenge the May 22 assassination of a Revolutionary Guards colonel in Tehran that it blamed on Israeli agents.