"Khamenei's position is surely weakened," Arash Azizi, who unveiled an alleged plot against the supreme leader, told Newsweek.

The arrests have raised fears that a new wave of repression is coming, as the government seeks to root out spy networks and clamp down on any dissent.

Roxana Saberi felt like she was back behind bars in Tehran. As she watched Israel’s bombing of Evin prison, the notorious detention facility at the core of Iran’s political repression, she shuddered at memories of solitary confinement, relentless interrogation, fabricated espionage charges and a sham trial during her 100-day incarceration in 2009.