Iran nabs 200 Daesh terrorists plotting attacks during Arba’een march: Minister

Speaking at the 24th Supreme Assembly of Commanders of the IRGC in Tehran on Saturday, Esmail Khatib said terrorist groups and hostile states were orchestrating vicious conspiracies against the Islamic Republic and the West Asia region.

He said 200 Daesh terrorists entered the country to carry out destabilizing actions in Iran, neighboring Iraq, and the region during the Arba’een rituals.

Most of the plots have been neutralized with the recent counter-terrorism operations and arrests by Iranian security forces, he explained.

Khatib also highlighted the cooperation between the Intelligence Ministry and the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the fight against terrorism and separatist groups.

Arba’een brings together millions of people from across the world who undertake an 80-km walk between the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala.

Last year, Iran’s government spokesperson said more than three million Iranian pilgrims had flocked to neighboring Iraq to participate in the annual Arba’een commemorations, setting a new record.

Imam Hussein (AS) and his 72 companions were martyred in the Battle of Karbala in southern Iraq in 680 AD while resisting the much larger army of the despot Umayyad ruler of the time, Yazid.

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‘Spies from Europe arrested in Iran’

Khatib also said the Intelligence Ministry has captured spies from Sweden, France and Britain, adding that a number of them have been executed despite foreign pressures.

“Today, the power of the country’s intelligence organizations is such that they have captured spies from France, Sweden, the UK, and many other countries,” Iran’s intelligence minister said.

Khatib underlined that a number of those spies have been sentenced to death despite foreign pressures and have been executed.

Israeli regime on brink of collapse: Khatib

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian intelligence minister pointed to the internal crises in the Israeli regime and said the occupying entity is on the verge of collapse.

“The situation that the Zionist regime is facing on a daily basis is the result of the resistance put up by Martyr Soleimani’s efforts,” Khatib said, referring to the late commander of the Quds Force of IRGC, General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a 2020 US drone attack in Iraq.

“The Zionist regime, which once claimed to be the fourth power in the world today, speaks of its own internal decay. From its president to other officials, everyone is talking about the fact that this regime is collapsing,” he noted.

According to a new poll recently conducted by the so-called Israel Democracy Institute, the majority of Israelis believe the regime is on the verge of economic, social, and political collapse due in large part to the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist coalition cabinet.

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On Saturday, thousands of protesters rallied for the 33rd straight week against the Benjamin Netanyahu regime.

The Netanyahu cabinet includes far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties. It triggered the demonstrations in January by announcing a judicial overhaul plan, which it then forwarded to the Knesset in the form of several bills.

The changes seek to enfeeble the regime’s high court in favor of the political elite by rendering the former incapable of striking down the decisions that are made by politicians. Other proposed changes include giving the cabinet a greater say in the appointment of judges to the court.

Ever since its onset, the protest movement has snowballed into the biggest to have ever been faced by the occupying entity throughout its history.