Israel's internal security agency on Monday accused Iran of using a fake Facebook profile to coax Israelis to gather intel and harm people, including Arab diplomats and business people, in the country.

Shin Bet's allegation comes days after Israel claimed that the Islamic republic of Iran had plotted to assassinate an Israeli diplomat in Turkey, as global powers seek to revive a nuclear deal with Tehran.

This is not the first time Iranian suspects have plotted abductions and murders in Turkey. Earlier this year, Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) had uncovered a plot by Iranian operatives to kill an Israeli-Turkish tycoon. Iranian intelligence also faces a string of accusations by Turkish authorities over several plots to abduct dissidents who took shelter in Turkey.

According to the Shin Bet, the profile of a young Jewish-Canadian woman named Sara Puppi with ties in Israel was fake and belonged to an Iranian agent using the social network to befriend primarily Israelis.

After the contact was made, Puppi would use the WhatsApp messaging app to try and persuade her new friends "to gather information on Israeli figures while gauging their willingness to harm them, using pressure and promising thousands of dollars," the Shin Bet said.

"Emotional and romantic manipulations were also used," the agency added in a statement.

It said that Shin Bet agents had posed as "friends" of Puppi – whose account had more than 2,000 friends before disappearing on Monday – and received a Bitcoin payment from her.

"The Iranian operative behind the account used a business cover story to give various missions," the Shin Bet said.

Puppi expressed a will to harm LGBT people as well as "business representatives and diplomats from Arab countries operating in Israel," it said.

Those behind the account also tried to damage Israel's ties with Russia by encouraging people to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war, the Shin Bet said.

The Shin Bet told Agence France-Presse (AFP) they could link the account to Iran with the intelligence they obtained.

Meanwhile, Israel claimed on the weekend it had "foiled" alleged bids by Iran "to assassinate a United States general in Germany, a journalist in France and an Israeli diplomat in Turkey."

The plots "were ordered, approved and funded by the senior leadership of the Iranian regime and were intended to be executed by the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps)," said a statement from the prime minister's office.

A suspect named Mansour Rasuli was detained and interrogated by Mossad agents in Iran and allegedly confessed the Islamic republic had tasked him to carry out the killings, it said. Rasuli was then freed.

The premier's office refused to provide further details and there was no immediate reaction from Iran.