Critics feared it would plunge the Middle East into a wider war. That doomsday scenario has not come to pass, at least for now: Iran made only symbolic retaliation against America; soon after, a ceasefire ended the fighting between Iran and Israel.

"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.