Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli announced Monday that Iran had detained a number of Afghan and Pakistani nationals on their way to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
Speaking to reporters in Tehran on the sidelines of a forum of deputy governors, Fazli rejected media reports that the ISIL was recruiting forces in Iran, and said that Iran was well aware of the terrorist group’s plans for Iran and other regional countries.
“The group has extensive plans and based on our documents, they planned to make an aggression against our country and other countries, but Iran is so powerful that such a small group cannot make any aggression against it,” he said.
“Of course, in certain cases, there have been some Afghans and Pakistanis who intended to pass through the Islamic Republic of Iran’s borders to join the ISIL, but we have prevented their entrance or transit through our borders and have made some arrests in this regard as well,” he added.
The minister said ISIL has sought to recruit Iranians through propaganda on the Internet and even contacted a number of people, but failed.