Iran has executed nine members of the so-called Islamic State (IS) group who were detained after a deadly clash in 2018 with the country’s Revolutionary Guard, state media reported on Tuesday.
According to the judiciary-run Mizan news agency, the death sentences had been upheld by Iran's Supreme Court and carried out by hanging.
The men were reportedly apprehended following clashes in western Iran, in which three members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and several IS fighters were killed.
Iranian authorities said they had recovered a substantial cache of weapons from the militants' hideout, including a machine gun and 50 grenades.
IS, which once held vast swathes of Iraq and Syria under a self-styled caliphate it declared in 2014, has since lost most of its territory following a campaign by US-led coalition forces. However, it has remained active, launching attacks across the region.
The group has also claimed responsibility for several attacks inside Iran, including a high-profile assault in June 2017 on the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which left at least 18 dead and over 50 injured. The 2018 clash with the Revolutionary Guard marked a spike in tensions between Iran and IS.
More recently, in 2024, IS claimed two suicide bombings targeting a memorial event for Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general killed by a US drone strike in 2020. That attack by the militant group resulted in the deaths of at least 94 people.
Analysts say IS could take advantage of the security vacuum in Syria, following the fall last year of Bashar al-Assad, to stage a comeback while its new leaders are still consolidating their control over the country and forming a national army.
