Iran claims to have smashed a network of “terrorists” across six provinces, whose handlers are in Denmark and the Netherlands, according to the government's news agency, IRNA.
In a lengthy article, quoting Iranian intelligence organizations, IRNA says that the conspiracy’s aim was to launch terror attacks during last week’s Muharram Islamic Shiite mourning events, marked by days of public gatherings in streets and mosques.
The report, blaming “Zionists” for organizing the network, claims that 43 bomb attacks were planned, including the bombing of IRGC General Qassem Soleimani’s mausoleum in Kerman — the architect of Iran’s military and intelligence network across the Middle East, killed in a US drone strike in January 2020 ordered by then-president Donald Trump.
Praising the quality of Iran's "intelligence aristocracy", the discovery it says, "is a sign of the undeniable authority of this institution in thwarting terrorist plans, and on the other hand, it shows the loss of the intelligence authority of the Zionist regime".
IRNA, a mouthpiece for the regime's top brass, claimed that the nature of the terrorists' employers has been known for years. "No one doubts the Zionist regime's [Israel] covert and hidden involvement in this matter," it claimed, threatening that the actions would reap repercussions for Israel's allies in Europe.
IRNA went on to claim that a large quantity of material related to bomb-making was uncovered in safe houses, along with weapons and accessories for street protests.
The Iranian regime occasionally makes claims of arresting terrorists and spies -- especially citing alleged Israeli intelligence agents — and uncovering caches of weapons and explosives, but rarely provides concrete details or names and affiliations of the supposed saboteurs. Court appearances of detainees or news about trials are rare and verification of these claims are impossible.
It is the second time in a matter of days that the regime has issued veiled threats to Denmark. Only last week, Iranian officials warned Denmark not to allow any acts of desecrating the Quran after several people burned the Muslim holy book in Sweden.