Three 'Successful' Operations by the IRGC and Ministry of Intelligence Against 'Terrorist' Groups

The Deputy Security Minister of Iran announced the completion of 'three successful operations' by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Intelligence against what he referred to as 'terrorist' groups in the 'western part of the country', stating that 'significant casualties' were inflicted on these groups. According to Tasnim News Agency, Hossein Zolfaqari, the Deputy Minister of Interior, on Saturday, June 6, referred to the actions of Iran's intelligence agencies against these 'terrorist' groups in the past year and the beginning of the current year, noting that these actions were carried out 'specifically in the southeast and in the south and part of the northwest of the country.' Zolfaqari emphasized: 'In the west of the country, the IRGC conducted two operations and the Ministry of Intelligence conducted one operation against terrorist groups, which were successful and inflicted significant casualties on the terrorist factions.' The Deputy Security Minister did not provide details about these operations or the names of the groups involved. Regarding a recent announcement by the Ministry of Intelligence about the arrest of a group labeled as 'terrorist', he stated that 'this incident occurred last year.' Zolfaqari's comments about the Ministry of Intelligence's operations last year come despite previous announcements from the Ministry stating that the arrests of this group occurred after the events in Mahabad in May. On June 1, the Ministry of Intelligence announced that its forces had arrested members of a 'four-member military team' who had allegedly entered Iran for 'sabotage actions' with 'quantities of weapons and military ammunition' in the west of the country. The Ministry claimed that these individuals entered the country following the events at the Tara Hotel in Mahabad, aiming for 'disruptive operations and explosions to escalate the crisis, assassination, and killings, attributing them to the Islamic Republic.' Following the death of Farinaz Khosravani, an employee at the Tara Hotel in Mahabad, the city witnessed unrest on Thursday, May 6, and the Tara Hotel was also set on fire. Meanwhile, Alireza Radfar, the political-security deputy of West Azerbaijan province, announced that 25 people were injured in these unrests, including seven police officers. After these events, the 'Defenders of Women of Eastern Kurdistan, HPJ', a subgroup of PJAK, announced that its forces attacked a police checkpoint on the Saqez-Baneh route in protest against the 'murder' of Farinaz Khosravani, killing 'two' officers. Additionally, Hamidreza Akbari, the police commander of Baneh, reported that a duty lieutenant named Yasin Khadiji, from the 'Sabdelou' police station in Baneh, was killed on Sunday, May 8, due to 'gunfire from unknown individuals.'