Zolfaqari told Tasnim that in the current year, the three terror groups that intended to make disruptive moves inside the country were identified and traced by security and intelligence forces.

Following round-the-clock intelligence activities, the three groups were smashed and their members were arrested by the forces before they could carry out their terrorist operations, he said.

Earlier this month, eight members of the Daesh terrorist group convicted of carrying out attacks on the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini in June 2017 were executed.

A court had sentenced the terrorists to death in May for their role in last year’s terror attacks in Tehran.

On June 7, 2017, members of Daesh armed with grenades, suicide belts and machine guns launched simultaneous attacks on Iran’s parliament building in downtown Tehran and on the mausoleum of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini.

The attacks left 17 people dead and more than 40 others wounded.

All of the five gunmen directly involved in the attacks were killed by the security forces.

Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Zolfaqari pointed to recent terrorist attacks against Iranian security forces in western and southeastern border areas and said the terror groups are based in some neighboring countries.

“We have let those countries’ officials know that they, themselves, should deal with the terrorists and that if they fail to do so, we will have to target the terrorists’ strongholds along the borders to ensure our security,” he said.

“We know that in the recent incidents, some countries and their intelligence services have supported the terrorist groups in creating insecurity.”

Zolfaqari added, ” While these measures are unbearable for us and all the security forces, they are not so (serious) as to deal a major blow to the country’s security.”

The remarks came a few days after anti-revolutionary terrorists attacked a border post of the IRGC Ground Force’s Hamzeh Seyed al-Shohada Base in Iran’s western province of Kurdistan, killing 11 forces of the base.

In the clash with the terrorists, a number of terrorists were killed and a number of others suffered injuries and escaped the scene, according to a statement by the IRGC released on Saturday.

The IRGC emphasized that “a deadly and crushing revenge” awaits the terrorist and anti-revolutionary groups and their supporters for committing this crime.

In another clash last month with a terrorist cell in Tahlab in Mirjaveh near the border with Pakistan, two local Basij (volunteer) forces and an IRGC force were martyred

The IRGC is tasked with protecting the country’s northwestern and southeastern borders.