Iran arrests 21 Daesh terrorists in northeastern city: Official

Iran’s security forces have arrested 21 Takfiri Daesh terrorists in the northeastern city of Mashhad, foiling their plans to launch several attacks on Iranian soil, a judiciary official says.

The terrorists “intended to carry out different operations, including suicide attacks,” Fars news agency quoted Hassan Heidari, the deputy prosecutor general of Mashhad, as saying on Thursday.

“Some of the detained Daesh members are Iranians and some of them are Afghan nationals who have entered the country using fake documents,” he noted.

The official said a number of the arrested terrorists had conducted terrorist operations outside the country.

Heidari went on to say that Iranian intelligence forces had launched the security operation in Mashhad as a “deterrent measure” following the recent Daesh terror attacks in the capital, Tehran.

As part of the operation, Iranian intelligence forces had put a group of Daesh terrorists under surveillance, said the official. They found out that some of the terrorists had entered Iran with fake IDs after receiving military training and pledging allegiance to senior Daesh leaders, he added.

Heidari underlined the Judiciary’s resolve to take serious action against Daesh elements and other terrorists.

On June 7, gunmen mounted almost simultaneous assaults on Iran’s Parliament and the Mausoleum of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini. Daesh claimed responsibility for the assaults, which killed 18 people and injured over 50 others.

Since then, Iran has arrested dozens of terrorists. They intended to carry out acts of terror inside the country, but they were identified and arrested before making any move.