“An ISIS team of four was arrested last night in Zabjan. The head of this team was someone whose brother was in ISIS and was killed in Syria by our forces,” said Alavi, according to Fars news agency.
“This person wants to establish a group in Iran to join ISIS. The group had [planned] some terrorist attacks, but they were arrested before the operation,” Alavi added.
Since the emergence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq in 2014, Iran has remained relatively safe and secure.
However, on June 7, 2017, gunmen stormed the parliament and simultaneously attacked the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini. Twelve people were killed and 42 injured in the ISIS-claimed attack.
Iranian security forces killed five of the attackers, who were identified as “Seriyas, Fereydoun, Qayyoum, Abu Jahad, and Ramin,” by the country’s interior ministry.
On July 7, 2018 Iran executed eight Sunni Kurds for their involvement in the 2017 attack.
Iran has intervened in Syria in support of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Although it claims to merely advise Syrian forces, Iran is widely believed to have sent units to fight for the regime.
Iran has also backed militia groups in Iraq in the fight against ISIS. Many of these units have now been integrated into the Iraqi Security Forces.
