Iran’s new challenge: The Islamic State in Persia?
Though Iran has announced that it has killed the Islamic State’s "emir" in the country, it continues to face serious security threats from a variety of militants.
When Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced on June 29, 2014, his self-styled caliphate, its borders were only about 20 miles from those of Iran. IS-controlled territory extended to the Iraqi border province of Diyala, posing a serious threat to Iranian national security. Tehran wanted to keep its borders far from the direct reverberations of the IS phenomenon, therefore hundreds of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops poured into Iraq to fight their first battle in Jalawla alongside Iraqi Kurdish forces and members of the Iraqi Badr Organization, which is known for its close ties to the Islamic Republic.
The fight to eliminate IS has continued in Iraq, with ever more Iranian involvement. Yet it seems as if the group has managed to find its way into Iran. On several occasions this year, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry has announced that terrorist plots within the country’s borders have been foiled. Two major announcements were made in June and August revealing, according to Iranian security officials, plans to attack the capital Tehran and other cities.
On Sep. 27, Pars News reported, citing unnamed sources, that security forces had killed the new leader of IS in Iran, code-named “Abu Aisha al-Kurdi." The news website wrote, “Some time ago in one of the border cities of Kermanshah, an individual who was supposed to be announced as the emir of Daesh [IS] in Iran was killed in a complex and massive operation with the hard work of the unknown soldiers of the imam,” in a reference to Intelligence Ministry agents.
This was not the first time that an announcement had been made about Abu Aisha having been killed in Iran. Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi stated in a live program on Iranian state TV Aug. 24, “In collaboration with special forces, we managed to kill Abu Aisha al-Kurdi, the commander of the [IS] brigade in Mosul, and arrest and take out nine of his accomplices,” noting that the operation had taken place in Kermanshah province. A week earlier, Iranian security forces announced that they had dismantled an “[IS]-affiliated terrorist cell in separate clashes in western Kermanshah province, killing four and arresting more than six.”
