The Iranian counterintelligence has arrested eight people suspected of being linked to the CIA after protests against fuel price increases across the country.

"We have identified and arrested a number of CIA-connected elements trying to collect and transfer information about recent riots out of the country," Iran's state news agency (IRNA) quoted the agency as saying. The chief of the Counterintelligence Department of the country's national intelligence agency said today.

Six of the eight arrested were "involved in riots and carrying out their assigned duties," the other two allegedly sought to collect and transfer information abroad, IRNA said. but did not name the counterintelligence official.

The Iranian state news agency said suspects were "trained in different countries on how to collect information as a journalist".

Iran's statement came a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it had received tens of thousands of messages about protests in the Islamic Republic. Unrest in Iran has recently exploded due to a sharp increase in gasoline prices after a year and a half of Iran's sanctions.