Iran Says It Dismantles Takfiri Terrorist Cells in Southeast

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have announced the dismantling of several Takfiri terrorist cells in the southeastern provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan and Hormozgan. Iranian authorities said coordinated intelligence operations resulted in the killing of two suspected terrorists and the arrest of 10 others, while significant quantities of weapons, ammunition and explosives were seized from suspected safe houses. The operations were conducted across Iranshahr, Sarbaz, Saravan and Zahedan, with another cell reportedly neutralized on Qeshm Island.

According to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, the suspects had received military, explosives and assassination training abroad before entering Iran with the stated aim of carrying out sabotage and creating insecurity. Authorities said intelligence gathered from local residents, together with cooperation between provincial police and the IRGC, helped security forces locate and confront the groups. In separate operations focused on public security, intelligence forces also announced the dismantling of two armed criminal gangs and the arrest of five suspects, with weapons and other equipment confiscated.

Separately, the IRGC Ground Force’s Qods Headquarters said it had eliminated the terrorist team responsible for the assassinations of Sunni religious scholars and local security personnel. Iranian authorities linked the cell to the killings of Sunni clerics Molavi Yousef Gorgeijeh and Molavi Mohammad Anvar Rigi, as well as two police personnel who were killed aboard the Khonjak-Zahedan train. The operations come amid continued Iranian security efforts in the country’s southeast, where authorities have repeatedly reported militant and armed criminal activity.