Iran stated yesterday that its security forces had dismantled 10 terrorist cells since the double suicide attack in the city of Kerman (South), which caused 94 deaths at the beginning of the month.
“Since the Kerman terrorist operation, more than 10 terrorist cells have been identified and dismantled by intelligence agencies,” Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi said, according to Iranian news agency Fars.
Mirahmadi did not provide further information on which terrorist groups were involved, but singled out the West for allegedly supporting groups, and in particular Israel, a country he described as “the head of the Islamic State (IS) dragon.”
Two days ago, the Iranian Ministry of Secret Services announced the death, in a confrontation with security forces, of “two terrorists” from IS linked to the double suicide attack in Kerman.
According to the authorities’ version, the “two terrorists” entered the country after the double suicide attack carried out in Kerman on January 3 with the intention of carrying out two attacks, an assault on a police station and an ambush on a road.
At the same time, an unknown number of IS members were detained and transferred to detention centers. At least 94 people died in a double suicide attack in Kerman, near the grave of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general who led the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force until he was killed by the US in 2020 in a bomb attack in Iraq.
The terrorist group IS claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the most brutal attacks on civilians committed in decades in Iran, just hours after the explosions.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, called for the “crush” of those “hidden” responsible for the attack, in an apparent reference to the United States and Israel.
The Kerman attack was Tehran’s justification for bombing Syria and Iraq with ballistic missiles, where four people died.