Secretariat of the Assembly: Claim of 'Destruction of a Terrorist Group' Based on Minister of Intelligence's Report

The Secretariat of the Expediency Discernment Council announced that Mohsen Rezaei's statements regarding the 'destruction of a terrorist group that intended to carry out an explosion during Friday prayers in Tehran' were based on a report presented by the Minister of Intelligence during a session of the Expediency Discernment Council. According to Tasnim News Agency, the public relations office of the Secretariat emphasized that similar reports to Mr. Rezaei's statements had been 'publicized' by intelligence and security officials, especially the Minister of Intelligence, in recent months. This organization, without referring to details, emphasized that 'legal complaints and follow-ups against errant media are considered their legal right.' Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, stated on Wednesday, October 7, that a terrorist team from ISIS had recently entered Iran and intended to carry out a suicide operation at Tehran University during Friday prayers. However, Hossein Zolfaqari, Deputy Security and Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Interior, denied these statements on Saturday, October 10, saying, 'Such cases may have occurred in the distant past, but we have no new reports in this regard.' Mr. Zolfaqari had also previously denied statements made by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, President of the Expediency Discernment Council, regarding the arrest of three individuals who intended to bomb locations in Qom, Mashhad, and Tehran. At that time, Rafsanjani reported the neutralization of three bombings in the cities of Mashhad, Qom, and Tehran, stating that 'recently three individuals from the eastern part of the country had entered with the intent to bomb during Friday prayers at the Imam Reza shrine and the shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh.' However, he did not react after the Ministry of Interior announced that this news was 'not accurate.' Meanwhile, in November 2015, following the Paris terrorist attacks, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraq's Foreign Minister, reported that information obtained by Iraqi intelligence indicated that three countries—France, the United States, and Iran—were among those targeted by terrorists for new attacks. Regarding the possibility of 'terrorist actions' in Tehran, the commander of the Army's Ground Forces announced in mid-December that an 'anti-terrorism exercise' would be held by these forces 'in line with ISIS threats' around Tehran. In recent months, officials of the Islamic Republic have repeatedly reported the arrest of several members of ISIS or individuals intending to join this group, as well as the neutralization of their actions. For instance, on June 21, the Ministry of Intelligence announced in a statement that 'several bombings' planned by 'Wahhabi Takfiri groups' in Tehran and 'several other provinces' had been 'neutralized' and several individuals arrested in this regard. Following that, Iranian television aired a film stating that these individuals had received 'orders' from ISIS to carry out attacks at '50 locations in Tehran.' Besides Iran's border provinces, where reports of 'dealing with ISIS-related elements' are published from time to time, the governor of Semnan recently stated that several members of ISIS had been arrested in this province, and some 'explosives' had been discovered from them.