Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence forces have detained a man in northwestern Iran's Ardabil province on charges of belonging to the neighboring country's spy agency, Tasnim reported.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the IRGC said soldiers from Hazrat Abbas provincial base captured the man after a technical operation and surveillance and handed him over to judicial authorities for trial, Press TV reported.

Iranian security forces have dismantled many foreign-backed terrorist groups along its borders over the past few years, the media outlet said.

Ardabil province is located in northern Iran and borders Azerbaijan.