Iran’s foreign ministry rejected accusations brought by Britain following the weekend arrest of seven Iranians in two separate counter-terrorism operations, state media reported on Wednesday.

Four of the detained Iranians were suspected of plotting to target specific premises, while the other three were suspected of involvement in foreign power threat activity, according to British police, who were keeping then in custody until May 10 for questioning.

British media on Tuesday reported mounting speculation that the seven Iranians and one other person arrested over the weekend had been “hours away” from carrying out an attack on a synagogue, though there was no confirmation of the reports.

“The unpleasant habit of some British officials in repeating baseless and undocumented claims against Iran is undoubtedly detrimental to bilateral relations and exacerbates Iranians’ historical distrust toward the British government,” said Alireza Yousefi, the Iranian foreign ministry’s director general for Western Europe.

Yousefi called for immediate information to be provided to Iran regarding the reasons for detaining the Iranian nationals.

On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that he was “disturbed” to learn of the arrests but that Tehran was ready to assist in investigations if “credible allegations of misconduct are established.”

British Interior Minister Yvette Cooper said on Sunday that the two counter-terror operations were “some of the biggest counter state threats” the country had seen in recent years.

The arrests came as the UK government had placed Iran on the highest tier of its foreign influence register, requiring Tehran to register everything it does to exert political influence in Britain.

The head of the MI5 domestic spy agency, Ken McCallum, said last year that since 2022, officers have responded to 20 Iran-backed plots that posed lethal threats to British citizens and residents.