Iran says foiled 30 ISIS bombing plot in Tehran
The Iranian intelligence has prevented a plot to carry out a series of bombings in Tehran, arresting dozens of elements linked with ISIS.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced in a statement on 24 September that its forces had discovered a plot to carry out 30 simultaneous bombing attacks on crowded areas of the capital, Tehran, and have arrested all alleged participants.
The statement said the attacks had been planned to undermine Iran’s security and foment chaos on the anniversary of protests and riots that erupted in 2022 following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The young woman fell into a coma hours after being detained by the Moral Security Police. She died in a hospital three days later due to multiple organ failure caused by cerebral hypoxia.
The ministry noted that its forces have conducted several simultaneous operations recently in the provinces of Tehran, Alborz, and West Azarbaijan, and raided the houses of “terrorist teams, and arrested 28 members of the terrorist network.”
The statement added that the arrested elements are affiliated with ISIS, saying a number of the detainees previously fought alongside extremist groups in Syria or had been present in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Although the elements arrested in Iran belong to ISIS, the design and objectives of the plot “significantly conform to the patterns and mechanisms of the Zionist regime,” the statement added.
The statement also said Iranian intelligence confiscated weapons and equipment, including large amounts of explosives, a package of 100 explosive primers, electronic devices used in time bombs, 17 US-made handguns and bullets, diverse smart and satellite telecommunication devices, military outfits, suicide vests, modems used in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and foreign currencies.
Israel has carried out numerous assassinations of top Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists.
On 13 August, two ISIS gunmen attacked the Shah Cheragh shrine in Iran’s southern city of Shiraz, killing four.
ISIS also claimed credit for an attack on worshipers at the Shah Cheragh shrine in October 2022, which killed 15 people.
A month later, Iranian authorities said 26 men they described as “takfiri terrorists” from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan had been arrested in connection with the attack.
On July 8, two other men of unspecified nationality were hanged in connection with the October shooting, and three other defendants were sentenced to prison for five, 15, and 25 years.
In 2017, ISIS suicide bombers attacked parliament and the mausoleum of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Khomeini, killing 12.
All the attackers were killed. Five people believed to be planning a third attack were arrested, officials said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accused Saudi Arabia and the US of being behind the attacks.
