Khatib said at a ceremony in the capital Tehran on Sunday that the terrorists had sneaked across the border into western Iran from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
“Given the cooperation of the new Iraqi administration [led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani] and the assurances offered, we wish to see our western borders secure and clear of any security incident,” he continued.
“We remind the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of its responsibilities in this regard,” he added.
Khatib made clear that Iranian military and security forces will not hesitate to deliver a powerful and crushing response to any destabilizing act against the country’s border regions.
Elsewhere in his Sunday remarks, Khatib said more than 200 anti-Iran media outlets, 35 think tanks, and dozens of intelligence services were actively involved in foreign-sponsored riots that broke out in some parts of the country.
Foreign-backed riots erupted in Iran in mid-September after the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who fainted at a police station in the capital Tehran and was pronounced dead three days later at the hospital.
Iran’s intelligence community has said several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have used their spy and propaganda apparatuses to provoke violent riots in the country.
