Tehran [Iran], March 19: Iranian authorities have announced hundreds more arrests across the country, as well as operations to counter what they describe as "traitors" aligned with the interests of the United States and Israel.
The Ministry of Intelligence said in a statement that 111 "pro-monarchy cells" in 26 of Iran's 31 provinces were stopped overnight into Wednesday from launching acts opposing the country's theocratic establishment that toppled a US-backed monarchy in a 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iranians have for millennia celebrated the eve of the last Wednesday of the year with a fire festival called Chaharshanbe Suri, which welcomes Nowruz, the Persian New Year. But authorities urged pro-establishment backers this year to take to the streets and retain control while security forces arrest any dissidents, amid the US-Israel war on Iran.
The ministry claimed that a number of weapons were also discovered from arrested individuals, and renewed its call on the public to report any suspicious activity.
The state-run Fars news agency said some of the dozens arrested in the city of Karaj near Tehran had "burned images of and insulted the martyred supreme leader", Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian authorities, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an interview with Al Jazeera in Tehran, remained defiant. Araghchi insisted that the Iranian establishment will not fall despite the assassinations.
Judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei also released a video on Wednesday to say that the "might of arrogance was broken" and the "US suffered a defeat".
Source: Qatar Tribune
