Iran’s intelligence ministry said today it had thwarted a major jihadist plot to carry out bomb attacks in the capital Tehran and other parts of the country, state media reported. Iranian authorities and others throughout the Middle East often refer to Islamic State fighters as “takfiris”. (Takfiri is a term Iran’s Shia officials use for Sunnis, who they regard as apostates.) Iran is working with the Syrian and Iraqi governments to fight the ISIS terror group.
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In a statement, the intelligence ministry said it had arrested several suspects and seized bombs and ammunition.
Iran recently announced it would not be sending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage, as it said the kingdom did not meet Iran’s requests for better security for Iranian pilgrims.
The Intelligence Ministry did not identify who planned the attacks, which were scheduled to occur during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, but referred to them as “Takfiri-Wahhabi groups”.
Ali Shamkhani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council, told the state-run ISNA news agency on June 20 that a group of IS sympathizers was arrested in Tehran on charges of plotting terrorist attacks across the country.
That fact, coupled with authorities’ suggestions the Sunni militants of the Islamic State group may be behind the plot, significantly raises the danger that Iran could face the same sectarian violence drowning Iraq and Syria, where its actions have earned the hatred of Sunni hard-liners. Iranian protesters overran the Saudi Embassy in Iran and Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties. But Iran is a predominantly Shiite country.
An increased police presence in Tehran in November and December – with armed security forces guarding subway stations and other public areas in Tehran – raised concerns that an attack was possible.
Following that attack, security agencies and the Revolutionary Guard tightened their grip on security in Iran. A Sunni Arab group also claimed an attack on an oil pipeline in southern Iran last week, while Iranian forces battled the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl in its southeast, according to Stratfor, a private intelligence firm based in Austin, Texas.
It was unclear whether that included the plot announced on Monday by state television.
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A total of 22 jihadists and Kurdish rebels were killed as well as three soldiers and a policeman. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan said Kurds killed over 12 Guard members, including a colonel.
