Iran's Minister of Intelligence Reports Death of 'Terrorist' Who Was Announced Dead Over a Year Ago

Iran's Minister of Intelligence has reported the death of 'the leader of a terrorist team' by Iranian security forces, despite the fact that the deputy of this ministry announced the death of the same individual over a year ago. The IRNA news agency reported that Mahmoud Alavi, the Minister of Intelligence, on Thursday, September 4, announced the death of 'Abu Hafs Balouchi, whose registered name is Hisham Azizi, the leader of enemy intelligence services.' Mr. Alavi referred to what he described as 'the traces of intelligence services in creating some security movements at the borders of the country,' adding: 'They created 12 teams and paid $500,000 for each operation, giving each individual $3,000 a month. With these costs, they intended to threaten the security of our country, but thanks to the vigilance of the unknown soldiers of Imam Zaman, they failed in their plan, and their leader Abu Hafs Balouchi, whose registered name is Hisham Azizi, was sent to hell.' The Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, quoted the Minister of Intelligence stating that 'Saudi intelligence services' supported the group 'Abu Hafs Balouchi.' This announcement by Mr. Alavi comes at a time when the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic reported on May 23, 2015, the death of an individual by the same name in the Sistan and Baluchestan province. At that time, the security deputy of the Ministry of Intelligence announced that 'Hisham Azizi, known as Abu Hafs Balouchi, the political-military commander of the terrorist group Ansar al-Furqan and two of his companions' were killed in an operation by the ministry's agents on May 2 of that year. In recent months, the Ministry of Intelligence, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and other security-military institutions of the Islamic Republic have published frequent reports of border clashes with groups they label as 'terrorist' or 'takfiri.' These reports have not yet been confirmed by independent sources. In recent months, Iranian security and judicial officials have repeatedly reported the arrest or killing of individuals who were members of takfiri groups. Additionally, in mid-August, Iran announced the execution of twenty individuals accused of carrying out 'terrorist actions.' This event sparked widespread protests from human rights organizations, which described the trial process of the accused as 'unfair' and claimed that the confessions of the accused were obtained under torture.