Iranian officials thwart large terror plot targeting Tehran – ministry

“A series of bomb attacks in several parts of the country, particularly in Tehran, planned for the coming weeks, were foiled”, the ministry said.

He said that bombs and a large amount of explosive material was also recovered during the raids.

“Takfiri” is a term used by officials in Shia Iran to describe Sunni extremists who declare other Muslims as apostates deserving of death. The Sunni Militant Islamic State group is often referred to as “Takfiris” by Iranian Authorities.

The operation comes after three successive attacks on terrorist groups along the Iranian borders in the past week.

According to the state TV report, several suspects were arrested and are being interrogated in connection to the plot. Attacks in Saudi Arabia followed the execution and the Saudi’s ultimately cut all official diplomatic relations with Iran. The relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia has been strained since the Saudi’s executed a Prominent Shite cleric at the beginning of this year in January.

Wahhabism is the conservative branch of Sunni Islam whose followers include members of al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

These attacks rarely become public knowledge in Iran, though fighting last week between Kurds and Revolutionary Guard forces in West Azerbaijan province saw fatalities. It has warned of possible militant attacks targeting the country, which largely has not seen such attacks since the immediate aftermath of its 1979 Islamic Revolution. It suffered its worst attack in June 28, 1981, when a blast at the ruling Islamic Republican Party’s central headquarters in Tehran killed at least 72 people, including the party’s leader, four government ministers, eight deputy ministers and 23 parliament members.