Security intelligence personnel "were successful in detecting and foiling two large shipments of explosives and ammunition that were brought into the country to conduct terrorist acts in public places," Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced in a statement on Wednesday.
Security forces seized 23 explosive devices brought into eastern Iran “by the intelligence service of Saudi Arabia to cause damage and instability deep in the country," the statement said.
Iran borders Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east. There are reported jihadist groups operating along the border strip between Iran and Pakistan.
On a separate mission, Iran's Intelligence Ministry stated they seized TNT, C4, explosives, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, and Kalashnikovs from a group based in the Kurdish city of Mariwan, near the border with the Kurdistan Region.
The ministry described the group in Mariwan as "separatists," in reference to Kurdish armed parties fighting for greater cultural and national rights for millions of Kurds in Iran.
"The elements of these groups entered the country from Iraqi Kurdistan to cause damage and carry out explosions," the statement claimed.
None of the Kurdish groups have commented on the events.
Security of the border between Iran and the Kurdistan Region is a concern for Tehran. Iranian officials raised it during KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani’s visit over the weekend.
Iranian national security adviser Ali Shamkhani told Barzani that the security of Iran is a "red line" that must not be crossed and it is not acceptable for Kurdish groups opposed to Iran to feel safe in the Kurdistan Region as they carry out cross-border attacks on Iranian security forces.
Barzani reassured Iran that they respect the security of all neighbouring countries, including Iran, and they understand and respect Iran’s expectations with regard to border security.
Kurdish armed groups say that they do not initiate conflict inside Iran, but only respond in self-defence.
After anti-government protests engulfed more than 80 cities in Iran in December, Tehran blamed the unrest on a plot hatched by the US Central Intelligence Agency, funded by Saudi Arabia through Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK). It said the operation to take down the Islamic Republic was run through a CIA desk in Erbil.
Both the CIA and the Kurdistan Region denied the accusations.
