On 7 November, Iranian security and intelligence forces arrested 26 ISIS members involved in the recent shooting attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in the southern province of Shiraz.

Iranian authorities announced that they launched round-the-clock intelligence, counter-intelligence, and security operations after the 26 October shooting.

The ministry also revealed that the detainees are from Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan, with the head coordinator being Azeri.

According to Iranian state media, a police commander in the Shiraz province said the attacker entered the shrine and indiscriminately opened fire on worshippers, killing 15 people, including women and children.

Iranian intelligence indicated that the Azeri national responsible for coordinating the attack, Mohammad Ramez Rashidi, nicknamed “Abu Basir,” entered Iran through Imam Khomeini International Airport, southwest of Tehran. The shooter himself was identified as Sobhan Komroni, and nicknamed “Abu Aisha.”

According to a statement released by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, Rashidi was contacted by a network of foreign members of ISIS in Afghanistan before the attack.

The ministry also disclosed that the armed group had already begun coordinating attacks in other Iranian cities, including Zahedan in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan.

On 27 October, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi pledged “a crushing response” to those responsible for the terror attack. He said: “This vicious act will definitely not go unanswered. The country’s security and law enforcement forces … will deliver a decisive response to its architects and operatives.”

Iran has been rocked by anti-government protests since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on 16 September – many of which have turned into violent riots, paving the way for armed attacks against security and police personnel. 

Amini’s official autopsy report indicates that she died of cerebral hypoxia, which, if accurate, dispels the claim that she was brutally beaten into a coma. 

Tehran has accused foreign players of funding and fueling violent riots in a bid to destabilize the nation.