Iranian intelligence officials said security forces killed six armed men in the country’s restive southeast during an exchange of fire that also left three officers wounded. Two others were taken alive, according to a statement carried by the state news agency IRNA.
The clash unfolded in Sistan-Baluchistan, a frontier province that borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and has for decades been one of the country’s most volatile corners. The government often points to the area’s lawless terrain and long smuggling routes, though residents speak just as readily of poverty, neglect, and the uneasy relationship between the Sunni Baluch minority and the Shiite-led state.
Officials described those killed as members of a “terrorist” network with ties to Israel, a charge Tehran has frequently leveled at groups operating in the borderlands. State media said the men were preparing to strike a “vital” facility in eastern Iran, though no further details were given. Authorities added that most of the unit were not Iranian nationals, without clarifying their origins.
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The raid follows a week of bloodshed in the province. On Friday, the Sunni group Jaish al-Adl claimed an ambush that killed five Iranian police officers. Days earlier, authorities announced the killing of seven fighters from another armed faction, Ansar al-Furqan. Both groups have staged attacks on Iranian forces in recent years and are outlawed as terrorist organizations by Tehran.
Such eruptions are not unusual in Sistan-Baluchistan. The province has long been caught in a cycle of insurgency and reprisal, where local grievances mingle with cross-border networks and the broader shadow struggle between Iran and its rivals. Each official claim of a foiled plot or foreign hand fits into that pattern.
For now, authorities say they have blunted another threat. In Sistan-Baluchistan, history suggests the calm may be brief.