Iran has reportedly executed four men convicted for collaborating with Israeli intelligence, according to international media.

The semi-official Iranian news agency reported on Wednesday that the men were sentenced to death “for the crime of cooperating with the intelligence services of the Zionist regime and for kidnapping”.

Three others received jail terms of five to ten years.

The death sentences have been now carried out, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday, citing an official news website of the judiciary.

The men were reported to have taken instructions from a Mossad agent in Sweden and bought weapons and equipment, receiving payments in cryptocurrencies.

Iran has been gripped by a wave of internal protests over the past two months sparked by the death of a young women detained by morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab correctly.

But the theocratic regime has claimed the unrest is being fomented by countries abroad including the US, the UK and Israel.

On Sunday, the BBC reported Iran’s attorney-general saying that the morality police would be disbanded.