TEHRAN- Iran’s Intelligence Minister, Esmail Khatib, said on Thursday that the government foiled a conspiracy to assassinate several Sunni clergies, judges, and members of the country’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The plot, which was planned to be carried out “on September 30,” was intended to “fuel ethnic and religious differences” in the country, Khatib said in a visit to Mashhad on Thursday.

The intelligence chief warned that the adversaries were aiming to create unrest along the eastern borders and urged authorities, both Shia and Sunni, to exercise caution.

The comments followed an earlier statement from the Intelligence Ministry that said its forces had succeeded in neutralizing a plot to set off as many as “30 simultaneous explosions” in Tehran.

In connection with the conspiracy, which aimed to attack the city’s populous centers, 28 terrorists were detained, according to the statement.

They were arrested from the provinces of Tehran, Alborz, and West Azerbaijan, the ministry said, adding the detainees were all members of Daesh with a history of serving the terrorist group in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

According to the ministry, the explosions were aimed at spreading a false impression of pervasive insecurity, sowing hopelessness and dread across society, and igniting turmoil and protest.

“The planned operations aimed to undermine the security and authority of the country and present an unstable image of Iran. Terrorists wanted the country to be immersed in fear and despair and sought to eventually incentivize violence and riots,” read the Intelligence Ministry statement.

Significant amounts of explosive materials, tens of explosive devices, 17 U.S.-made handguns, multiple smart and satellite communication devices, suicide vests, and large sums of foreign currencies were confiscated from the terrorists, the ministry explained.

“Despite the involvement of Daesh, the design and execution plan of the recent failed attacks were much more sophisticated than the usual operations of the group. The attacks had significant similarities with the methods routinely put to use by the Israeli regime”.

The statement added the use of various complicated tactics, involvement of highly professional agents, and vast utilization of social media platforms and messaging apps, especially WhatsApp, where all indicative of a mastermind existing behind the scenes.

The ministry also declared that two of Iran’s intelligence forces were injured during the arrest operations.

Also recently, the ministry announced that 400 bombs were discovered that were intended to detonate at various religious gatherings around the country during the mourning rituals marking the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the second Shia Imam and the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

“We receive many reports saying that the enemies are trying to take advantage of another wave of fabricated riots. During this time, we collected about 400 bombs, including more than 40 which were supposed to be set off in mourning congregations of the first 10 days of the lunar calendar month of Muharram,” the intelligence chief explained.