JERUSALEM - Israel accused Iran on Monday of orchestrating an attempted attack against Israelis in Cyprus after police on the island said an armed individual had been arrested.
"This was a terrorist incident directed by Iran against Israeli businesspeople living in Cyprus," Matan Sidi, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, said in a statement.
Earlier on Monday, Cypriot police chief Stelios Papatheodorou told reporters: "A person has been arrested, in whose possession a pistol and cartridges were found."
"It is a sensitive case, which is why a remand request was held behind closed doors," Papatheodorou added.
In his statement, Sidi denied local media reports on Sunday that described the arrest as having thwarted a criminally-motivated assassination attempt against an Israeli magnate.