In the last cabinet meeting of the outgoing administration on Wednesday, Esmaeil Khatib said Iranian forces acted on a tip-off to identify and arrest the militants with foreign nationalities who had links to militant groups.
The intelligence minister said 12 of the detainees were operative agents who had snuck into Iran to stage terrorist attacks, and two of them were leaders of Daesh and other Takfiri groups affiliated with non-neighboring countries, without specifying their nationalities.
Khatib advised Iranian citizens to take precautionary measures while renting their houses or properties to foreign nationals.
The intelligence minister praised the security forces for their efforts in shoring up security in the country particularly on borders.
