DUBAI: Iranian security forces killed three militants linked to Islamic State in a city close to the Iraqi border yesterday, confiscating a weapons cache and belts armed with explosives, a senior official said. The trio were shot dead in the house they were staying in Kermanshah city, the governor of Kermanshah province, Asadollah Razani, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. The city is around 100 kilometers from the Iraqi border. A senior member of Islamic State was killed on Monday night in an operation in another city in the province, during which other supporters of the group were arrested, Razani said.
A mountainous area bordering Iraq, Kermanshah has a largely Sunni Kurdish population and a history of insurgency against the Shiite Muslim republic of Iran. Sunni Islamic State, whose members view Shiites as heretics, controls large areas of Iraq and Syria. Iranian officials say Islamic State militants have been targeting the country in recent months, while Tehran has ramped up its military presence in both Iraq and Syria following Russia's entry into the conflict in Syria. In June, Iranian intelligence authorities said they arrested 10 IS militants and seized about 100 kilograms of explosives intended to be used in car and suicide bombs and other attacks in busy public places.
Security-related charges
In another development, Iran has detained an Iranian with citizenship in another country over allegations the person had links to British intelligence services, a prosecutor said yesterday, the latest dual national arrested in the country. The circumstances surrounding this most-recent detention were unclear, but they come as hard-liners in Iran's security forces increasingly target those with foreign ties in the wake of the country's nuclear deal with world powers.
Speaking to journalists, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi described the individual arrested as being "active in the economic field, related to Iran," the official IRNA news agency reported. Dolatabadi didn't elaborate, saying only that the arrest took place last week. He also did not identify the individual's second nationality. Iranian hard-liners have criticized a planned meeting in September called "Iran Connect 2016," sponsored in part by Iran's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce. A flier for the event notes it is "strictly prohibited to Iranian individuals and entities that are sanctioned by the UK government and/or the EU."
The hard-line daily newspaper Javan, which has links to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, criticized the restrictions yesterday. "The administration, indeed, has allowed the British Embassy to implement European sanctions in Tehran," the newspaper said. The British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce and those organizing the event did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The British Foreign Office, Iranian officials in Tehran and Iran's mission to the United Nations also did not immediately comment.
Iran does not recognize dual nationalities, meaning those detained cannot receive consular assistance. In previous cases involving dual nationals, like the detention of Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, officials initially announced indictments had been handed down without providing specifics. Later, news organizations with close ties to security services offered details of the charges.
Those detained typically face trial in Iran's Revolutionary Court, a closed-door tribunal which handles cases involving alleged attempts to overthrow the government. Rezaian was convicted but later released in January as part of a prisoner swap between Iran and the US. It's unclear why Iran is increasingly detaining dual nationals, but analysts and others have suggested hard-liners want concessions from the West in exchange for releasing them.
Those recently detained in Iran include:
Homa Hoodfar , an Iranian-Canadian woman who is a retired professor at Montreal's Concordia University.
Siamak Namazi , an Iranian-American businessman who has advocated for closer ties between the two countries and whose father is also held in Tehran; Baquer Namazi , a former Iranian and UN official in his 80s who is the father of Siamak; Robin Shahini , an Iranian-American detained while visiting family who previously had made online comments criticizing Iran's human rights record; Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe , a British-Iranian woman held in Iran for months over accusations she planned the "soft toppling" of the government while visiting relatives with her young daughter; and Nizar Zakka, a US permanent resident from Lebanon who has done work for the American government.- Agencies