Three suspected militants and a police officer were killed in an armed clash in the southeastern Iranian city of Saravan, police in Sistan and Baluchestan province said on Sunday, in the latest violence to hit the restive region.
One other police officer was wounded and taken to hospital, the provincial police information center said in a statement carried by state media.
It said security patrols in Saravan came under armed attack by the assailants, identified as members of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl, who were attempting to enter a local police station.
Security forces killed three attackers and were pursuing others who fled, the statement said.
The police commander of the province said that four people were arrested, and two vehicles along with a quantity of weapons and ammunition were seized following the clash with police in Saravan.
Local rights outlet Haalvsh had earlier reported heavy gunfire in Saravan, saying several people were injured, including a passerby.
The clash comes less than two weeks after a deadly assault on a courthouse in the provincial capital, Zahedan, that killed nine people -- including three attackers -- and wounded 20.
Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for that attack, which involved gunmen storming the judiciary building, firing on court offices and civilians, and an explosion inside the compound.
Sistan and Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been the scene of sporadic violence involving Sunni militant groups, drug smugglers, and security forces. Jaish al-Adl, designated as a terrorist organization by Iran and the United States, says it is fighting for greater rights for Iran’s Baluch minority but is accused by Tehran of links to cross-border militant networks.
Iran has stepped up executions in the province in recent months, with rights groups warning that the surge in hangings of Baluch prisoners risks fueling further unrest.
“Iranian threat-related activities directed at Canada and its allies are likely to continue in 2025 and may increase depending on developments in the Middle East and the Iranian regime’s own threat perceptions,” the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said in a statement.
The CSIS told The Globe and Mail on Saturday it is actively investigating death threats in Canada linked to the Islamic Republic.
“Given the need to protect our sources, tradecraft and methods, however, we cannot confirm or deny specific investigative details,” said CSIS spokesperson Magali Hébert.
The agency’s warning follows an announcement by Iran International that two of its Canada-based journalists were targeted by the Islamic Republic in recent weeks.
"It's very, very intense and very threatening," Adam Baillie, spokesman for Iran International, told The Canadian Press.
"People get all sorts of messages of, 'We know where you live, remember we watch you, remember we know all about you, we know where your family lives.' It's that kind of thing," Baillie said.
UN appeal over threats to journalists
On Tuesday, Iran International filed an urgent appeal with United Nations experts urging them to take action against Iran over serious risks to the lives and safety of their journalists worldwide and relatives inside Iran.
Over the past six weeks, the Iranian authorities have intimidated and threatened 45 journalists and 315 of their family members with death unless they stop working for Iran International by specific deadlines, Iran International said in a statement.
Carlos Nagore Diaz, spokesperson for UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression Irene Khan, said “several UN Special Rapporteurs are considering taking urgent action on the renewed credible threats to life,” but confirmed that “any communications with the Iranian regime are currently confidential.”
In its reply to the UN, Iran’s permanent mission rejected “allegations made about the threats or kidnapping plans” and described Iran International as “an anti-Iranian network” whose operatives “will be dealt with according to the relevant laws.”
UN rapporteurs wrote in May 2024 that intimidation of the channel’s staff “may amount to violations of the sovereignty” of the countries in which they operate.
In March 2023, Iran International presenter Pouria Zeraati was stabbed in London. Two Romanian nationals were later charged.
In late June, IRGC forces in Tehran detained the family of another Iran International presenter to pressure them into ending their cooperation with the network.
CSIS’s warning also comes after an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler, which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says it foiled last year. Cotler remains under 24-hour police protection.
Last week, Canada joined Britain, the US, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark in condemning what they called “a growing number of threats from Iranian intelligence services on their soil,” including collaboration with organized crime networks to target dissidents.