TEHRAN – Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib offered new details about the recently foiled plot to simultaneously attack several places in Iran.

He said during the Arbaeen ceremony, there was a plot to detonate 30 bombs in Tehran simultaneously. The bombings were planned to hit Arbaeen processions and other public spaces. Ticking bombs were used that could be remotely detonated via a mobile phone, Khatib said. 

“With this, the enemies were seeking to produce corpses. They even prepared statements in advance stating that these casualties were revenge for the killings that took place during the [2022] unrest. They wanted to attribute that to the Establishment,” Khatib said. 

He pointed out that many of those arrested in that regard were members of the Takfiri and separatist groups trained in the countries of the region.

He also said that arms smuggling into Iran has sharply increased in recent months in a bid to foment unrest and insecurity.

The intelligence minister pointed out that the enemies set up bomb manufacturing workshops inside Iran, which all were busted.