Thailand has approved the handover of three Iranian prisoners convicted of targeting Israeli diplomats in a 2012 bomb plot as part of a prisoner swap, the country's prison administration confirmed Thursday.
The Iranians were arrested after the bomb plot fell apart since an explosive went off on the villa where the three were staying, resulting in at least one of them sustaining injuries.
According to Israeli and Thai officials, the three were plotting an attack targeting the Jewish state envoys in Bangkok.
The Iranians were transferred to Tehran as part of an apparent prisoner swap, which saw Iran release Australian-British researcher Kylie Moore-Gilbert.
"A businessman and two Iranian citizens detained abroad on the basis of false accusations were released in exchange for a spy dual nationality working for the Zionist regime," Iran's Iribnews announced Wednesday.
Moore-Gilbert, a 30-year-old Islamic studies lecturer at the University of Melbourne, was arrested by the Iranian authorities in late 2019.
She was sentenced to ten years in prison for alleged espionage for Israel - a charge she denied, saying the sentence had been handed to her as punishment for refusal to conduct espionage on Iran's behalf.