Interior Minister: French Intelligence Agents, Daesh Militants Captured by Iran
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi shed light on various aspects of the recent unrest in the country, and said security agents have arrested several individuals from the French intelligence service and the terror group, Daesh (also known as ISIL or ISIS), during the recent unrest.
“People of other nationalities were arrested in the riots, some of whom played a big role,” Vahidi told reporters on the sidelines of the cabinet session on Wednesday.
“There were elements from the French intelligence agency. They are in custody and Iran’s Judiciary will deal with them under the law,” he added.
Last week, France’s Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna stated a total of seven French nationals were detained in Iran.
The official also confirmed that some individuals from other nationalities were arrested in the turmoil.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the minister said that the enemy tried to create insecurity and instability and impede the country’s scientific path.
“It could not achieve its aim because Islamic Republic’s intelligence and security bodies faced them with might,” he stressed.
Last week, Vahidi revealed that some organizers of the riots have received training in eight different states.
“In the course of the recent plot, in addition to the United States, which in shortest possible time voiced its support for the rioters, such countries as Germany and Britain, too, alongside Saudi Arabia and the Zionist regime, had openly established a headquarters and were busy supporting the rioters,” he noted.
Protests erupted in several cities across Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who fainted at a police station in mid-September and days later was pronounced dead at a hospital. The demonstrations soon turned violent.
An official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization announced that Amini’s controversial death was caused by an illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.
Iranian officials blame Western countries for orchestrating the riots to destabilize the country.
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei severely censured the deadly riots, saying they were orchestrated in advance by the United States and the Israeli regime.
“I state it clearly that these developments were planned by America, the Zionist regime and their acolytes. Their main problem is with a strong and independent Iran and the country’s progress. The Iranian nation proved to be fairly strong during recent events and will bravely come onto the scene wherever necessary in the future,” he added.
Iranian officials have blamed the United States, the European Unions, and several Western states for meddling in Iran’s internal affairs over the death of Mahsa. They advised the US and its allies against “opportunism and instrumentalization of the issue of human rights” by misusing the incident.
Tehran reminded that the countries, which, themselves, towed a “long history of warmongering and violence” throughout the world, lacked the legitimacy that could authorize them to “moralize others” concerning the human rights.
