Iran: 'Biggest terror plot ever' targeting Tehran foiled by authorities

A new report on the plot refers to 'a series of bombing raids in several locations across the capital'

Tehran (Rex Features)

Iranian state TV says the country’s intelligence agents have disrupted "the biggest terrorist plot" ever to target Tehran.

Reports by state television and the Tasnim news agency quote the Intelligence Ministry as saying several suspects have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to bomb the Iranian capital and other provinces.

The report by Tasnim, an agency supportive of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, referred to: “A major plot to carry out a series of bombing raids in several locations across the capital of Iran, specifically during the upcoming events in the holy month of Ramadan."

“Thanks to the efforts by the intelligence forces,” the report added, “The devil plots were thwarted, the terrorists were arrested and a number of bombs -ready for blast- and a huge amount of explosive material were confiscated.”

The report did not identify those arrested but referred to “a major plot by the Takfiri-Wahhabi groups.”

"Takfiris" is a derogatory term in both Arabic and Farsi referring to Muslims who accuse others of being "nonbelievers."

Wahhabism is a conservative form of Sunni Islam that originated in Saudi Arabia and whose followers include members of al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

Shia Iran has been active in helping both the Syrian and the Iraqi government in their battles against Islamic State, and news of the alleged terror plot also follows worsening relations with the country's regional and religious rival Saudi Arabia.

When the Sunni kingdom executed the prominent shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr for alleged terrorism offences in January, Iran warned that the Saudis would pay a "high price". An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman claimed that Saudi Arabia "supports terrorists ... while executing and suppressing critics inside the country."

The execution also sparked a wave of protests in Iran during which the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was set on fire and ransacked. In response, Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran.

Further details of the alleged terrorist plot have yet to emerge.