Iran arrests Daesh member, foils attacks

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards arrested a member of Daesh and foiled a plan for suicide attacks, a Guards commander said today.

Colonel Amin Yamini, the Guards commander for the western Tehran suburb of Shahriar, did not say when the arrest was made but said the attacks were being planned for a ten-day Shia religious holiday that begins next week.

The Daesh member arrested was from the Syrian branch of the militant Sunni organisation and had planned to organise about 300 people to carry out suicide attacks, Yamini said, according to Basij Press, the news site for the Tehran branch of the Guards.

On 7 June, Daesh attacked the parliament in Tehran and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, south of the capital, killing 18 people and wounding more than 40.

Iran has blamed Saudi Arabia for being behind the deadly attacks. Riyadh has denied any involvement.

Read:Iran arrests 27 suspected Daesh members

The Revolutionary Guards fired several missiles at Daesh bases in Syria on 18 June in response to that attack.

According to Yamini, the Guards tracked the Daesh organiser, who had a cell phone and satellite phone, and set up a meeting with him in the western Tehran suburb of Andisheh by posing as Daesh members. When the person showed up, he was arrested.

Valuable information has been gleaned from his mobile phone, Yamini said, according to Basij Press.