Iranian security forces

Iranian security forces have arrested eight Sunnis suspected of planning attacks to disrupt celebrations for Iran’s revolution in the past week, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said on Saturday.

Alavi said the eight were “Takfiri” foreigners, some of whom were linked to a “Takfiri” leader who had been killed in Iran, IRNA reported. He did not give details of which countries they were from.

“Takfiri” is a word used by predominantly Iran to refer to hard-line, armed, Sunni groups.

“Initial information indicates that Kalashnikovs and other equipment were obtained to carry out terrorist operations … in Tehran and several other cities under the direct guidance of persons based in neighboring countries,” Alavi was quoted by the state news agency IRNA as saying.

In August, Alavi said the leader of a Sunni militant group in southeast Iran responsible for attacks against security forces and civilian targets has been killed.

On Friday, Iran’s prosecutor-general Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said security forces had smashed a cell linked to Daesh near Tehran that wanted to “sabotage” rallies on Friday marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the US-backed Shah.

Iranian security forces have repeatedly announced arrests of Daseh fighters and sympathizers.

In an unrelated development, a gas explosion at an agricultural research site in southern Iran left five workers dead and nine injured on Thursday. IRNA reported that short circuit in an underground site led to the explosion.