Iran's Ministry of Intelligence Reports Arrest of 13 ISIS Elements in Kurdistan

On Thursday, February 21, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence announced that 13 individuals affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), who intended to carry out military operations, have been arrested in Kurdistan. According to ILNA, the Ministry stated in a statement that the detained individuals were part of two terrorist teams planning bombings, mass killings, and the assassination of certain Sunni clerics in the country, and were identified and captured by the Ministry's forces in Kurdistan province. The statement added, 'Some of these individuals had received military training abroad and were seeking to carry out terrorist actions under the guidance of one of the leaders of ISIS military operations.' The Ministry of Intelligence reported that 'remote-controlled bombs, weapons, and ammunition' were discovered from the arrested individuals. The Ministry did not provide further details regarding the identities of those detained. Since the ISIS operation in Tehran on June 7, 2017, which involved an attack on the Iranian Parliament and the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian security agencies have reported the arrest of dozens of ISIS members in various cities across Iran. The news of these arrests comes amid a lack of details about the identities and fates of those detained. In the attacks on the Parliament and the tomb of Ruhollah Khomeini, a total of 17 people were killed and 52 injured, with the attackers also being killed. Iranian media at that time mentioned Saryas Sadeghi as one of the attackers in the Parliament in Tehran. The website of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Khalid Azizi, had referred to Saryas Sadeghi in 2014 as someone who promoted ISIS in Paveh, Kurdistan, Iran. In this context, experts from the Ministry of Interior had warned in February 2016 that pro-ISIS groups were 'recruiting' in Kurdish areas of Iran. The report indicated that although the cultural, social, and economic relations of Sunni Kurdish communities in Iran are not conducive to accepting Salafi ideology, in recent years, pro-ISIS groups have increasingly been active in all Kurdish regions of Iran, and their ideology is no longer considered 'imported and foreign' in these areas. Iranian Ministry of Interior experts noted that in all Kurdish regions from Urmia to Paveh, 'non-organizational' activities of the Salafi movement are observable, warning about the promotion and spread of Salafi ideas by 'dozens of prominent clerics and young seminary students' in these areas.