Iran claims to arrest an ‘Israel-linked cell’ on the border with Kurdish Iraq

Intelligence and Security Minister Esmail Khatib alleges the detained are Kurdish Iraqis cooperating with the Jewish state

Iran’s Intelligence and Security Minister Esmail Khatib arrested a “terrorist” group, at the western border of Iran, on Sunday, for alleged ties to Israel, according to the semi-official Nour News agency.

“A terrorist group associated with the Zionist regime which entered the country from the western borders was arrested,” claimed Khatib, and continued to warn, “as far as the security of the Islamic Republic is concerned, any action on our border will be met with a decisive and overwhelming response.”

In addition to the explicit threat to Israel, amid heightened tensions between the countries over Tehran’s nuclear program, Khatib also directed the warning to the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, which the Ayatollah regime repeatedly accuses of cooperating with Jerusalem.

Iran’s intelligence ministers then mentioned an intelligence cooperation deal with a new government in Iraq, made up of Tehran-loyalists, that he claimed “will prevent a repeat of the security incident.”

On Wednesday, a high-ranking pro-Iranian cleric in Iraq claimed that Israel orchestrated the assassination of Shiite Islam’s first Imam, over 1,300 years ago, but was ridiculed online by other Arabic-speaking users.

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