The Intelligence Ministry said in a statement that several terrorist teams had been identified and arrested over the past few days, including a 21-member group linked to the MKO in the capital Tehran.

The MKO-linked group intended to carry out acts of sabotage, including setting fire to public property, particularly buses, in crowded areas and destroying personal property, as well as throwing hand-made grenades, the statement added.

Another MKO-linked group was dismantled in the holy city of Mashhad, while 300 hand-made grenades were discovered, the statement said, adding that the detainees had also participated in the riots that broke out in Iran in September 2022.

According to the statement, many explosives and equipment used for sabotage acts were also discovered in a western city and a northwestern province, while two workshops used for making hand-made bombs were dismantled as well.

The Intelligence Ministry has in its statement promised to protect the security of the Iranian people and act decisively in the face of “Zionist terrorism”, but at the same time called on the Iranians to remain vigilant and report any suspected case to the ministry.

 In a relevant development in mid-February, an Iranian official shed light on the country's nonstop efforts in the fight against terror groups, revealing that security agents have thwarted 200 terrorist operations since 2014.

An official with the General Intelligence Department of the Southern Iranian Province of Fars offered some details about the anti-terror operation after the terrorist attack on Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz that left over a dozen people dead and several more injured.

A counter-terrorism director of the department stated that 42 people were captured in the immediate aftermath of the incident for providing logistics and support to the terrorists.

The step prevented the occurrence of nine similar attacks in the country, he further noted.

The official, identified by media by his last name Kheirandish, added intelligence agencies have defused some 200 bombing plots in the country since 2014 when Daesh (also known as ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group launched a campaign to directly target Iran.

Iran's Leader: US, Allies Responsible for Shah Cheragh Terror Attackhttps://t.co/QiZq1XzQXC pic.twitter.com/i8WegFhagf

— Fars News Agency (@EnglishFars) December 20, 2022

Back in late October, a heavily-armed assailant martyred 15 people and wounded 19 others in an attack on Shah Cheragh, as pilgrims were visiting the holy site.

Iranian officials say Tehran will surely bring to justice all masterminds and perpetrators behind the Shiraz terror attack.

In early November, Iran's Intelligence Ministry confirmed that security agents have arrested 26 Takfiri terrorists involved in the fatal shooting in Shah Cheragh holy shrine, and added that the militants are non-Iranians from Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

The terrorists have been arrested in the provinces of Fars, Tehran, Alborz, Kerman, Qom and Khorasan Razavi, the statement added, noting that a number of others have been caught as they were trying to flee the country from the Eastern borders.

The ministry also stated that a number of those terrorists were planning another terrorist attack in the Southeastern city of Zahedan.

Tehran has denounced the silence of the so-called Western advocates of human rights over terror attacks in Iran which led to the martyrdom and injury of several civilians, and further blasted them for inciting and encouraging terrorism in the country.