MOSCOW, November 18 – RIA Novosti. Iranian law enforcement has arrested a terrorist group in the northwest of the country and attempted to smuggle weapons into the country to be used in riots, Tasnim agency reported.

“All members of the terrorist organization linked to the riots were identified and detained in West Azerbaijan. They planned to pose a security threat in Iranian cities by illegally smuggling weapons and ammunition into the country and using them in riots.” said the agency.

The agency announced that the detainees acknowledged their intention to use weapons against police officers and civilians during the events. According to the agency, it was led directly by foreign terrorist groups and a host of anti-government elements from Western countries.

Mass riots and protests have continued in Iran since mid-September over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman, after she was detained by the police aide. Street riots are mainly experienced in the provinces of Gilan, Khuzestan, Sistan and Balochistan, Tehran and Kurdistan. Iranian officials accuse Western countries of supporting protesters who spread subversive, anti-Iranian messages in their media and calls for the overthrow of power in Iran. Insurgents systematically attack and kill members of the security forces (the police, the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij, one of the major military structures).

In early November, attacks on clergy, abbots and Iranian mosques became more frequent in the country’s surrounding provinces. Law enforcement makes mass arrests of individuals recruited by the intelligence services of Western countries, Israel and Saudi Arabia, and also seizes shipments of weapons supplied to rebels almost daily across the country’s borders.

On September 13, Amini was detained in Tehran by the deputy police officer and sent for a descriptive interview to one of the Faraj headquarters of the police department and military intelligence. In this center, the girl suffered a heart attack, after which she was immediately hospitalized. She died three days later. Neighborhood residents blamed the deputy police officer for Mahsa’s death. In different cities of the country, people began to gather on the streets to protest. Videos were posted on social media showing girls cutting their hair and burning a headscarf, or a “Rusari” headscarf, which by law is required to cover an Iranian woman’s head.