�Iranian intelligence forces smashed a terror team affiliated with the Israel Mossad spy agency in the western part of the country, Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib said on Sunday.







Khatib said at a ceremony in Tehran on Sunday that the Israel-linked terrorists had sneaked across the border into western Iran from Iraq�s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

�Given the cooperation of the new Iraqi administration [led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia� al-Sudani] and the assurances offered, we wish to see our western borders secure and clear of any security incident,� Press TV quoted Khatib as saying.

�We remind the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of its responsibilities in this regard,� he added.

Khatib made clear that Iranian military and security forces will not hesitate to deliver a powerful and crushing response to any destabilizing act against the country�s border regions.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Khatib said more than 200 anti-Iran media outlets, 35 think tanks, and dozens of intelligence services were actively involved in foreign-sponsored riots that broke out in some parts of the country.

Foreign-backed riots erupted in Iran in mid-September after the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who fainted at a police station in the capital Tehran and was pronounced dead three days later at the hospital.

Iran�s intelligence community has said several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have used their spy and propaganda apparatuses to provoke violent riots in the country.

By Mehr