Around Iran: Regional Round-up

This week in Iran, a senior cleric calls for tolerance towards Iran's Baha'is, a group of Christians travel to Shiraz for a conversion ceremony, a terror plot is thwarted in Khuzestan, three casualties are reported after a mine explosion in Marivan, and Isfahan's hardliners gather to protest the expected burial of a US scholar in their city.

Revolutionary Guards Thwart Terror Plot in Khuzestan

The Revolutionary Guards announced on its website this week that it busted a foreign affiliated terrorist network as its agents entered the border through Khuzestan. The statement said that a number of foreign agents were arrested along with equipment such as "roadside bombing devices, sticky explosives and sophisticated communication monitors," and that the group's goal was to sow a climate of "fear and insecurity" through "bombings, assassinations and sabotage.”

Hardliners in Isfahan Express Outrage at Expected Burial of US Scholar

Hardliners in Isfahan staged protests this week against the expected burial of an American scholar near the city's Zayandeh River. Richard Frye, a scholar of Iranian studies, asked in his will to be buried in Isfahan, a request that former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly approved. Opponents of the burial plans, including Isfahan's Friday prayer leader, expressed outrage, calling Frye a "CIA spy" in his address Friday. Some members of the Basij and conservative student organizations staged protests at the burial site of Arthur Pope and Phyllis Ackerman, two American scholars of Iranian history already buried in the area, and sprayed anti-American slogans outside of their tombs.

Senior Cleric Makes Symbolic Gesture Toward Baha’i Community

Ayatollah Abdol-Hamid Masoumi-Tehrani, a senior Iranian cleric, gifted a work of calligraphy to members of the persecuted Baha'i faith in what is seen as an unprecedented symbolic call for religious co-existence. In a letter explaining the gesture, Masoumi-Tehrani said, "I wanted this work to serve as a symbolic and enduring piece of respect toward human dignity, altruism, and peaceful coexistence among all, regardless of religious attachments and beliefs." Masoumi-Tehrani wrote that Iran is a tolerant civilization, invoking times in its history that people of different faiths helped in the growth and enrichment of each other. He also noted that a turn toward "darkness" occurred when elites and the vanguards of society "polluted religion, honor and humanity with lies, hypocrisy, cruelty and unrighteous acts."

Mine Explosion in Kurdistan Leaves Three Injured

Three people were injured after a landmine exploded in Kurdistan's Marivan County on Wednesday. One of the victims had his leg amputated at the hospital due to the severity of the blast. According to the county's governor, the mines were remnants from the Iran-Iraq War. Border areas like Marivan have some of the world's highest number of unexploded landmines and dozens of related fatalities occur in Iran every year.

38 South Americans Convert to Islam in Shiraz

A group of 38 Christians of South American origin reportedly converted to Islam in Shiraz on Monday. The individuals recited the Shahadatin, or declaration of faith, and formally converted in the city's famous Shah Cheragh mausoleum. Ali Asghar Dastgheib, senior cleric and member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, attended the ceremony and said, "I hope that it is with deep belief and faith in your hearts that you have joined Islam," to which a spokesperson speaking on behalf of the group replied, "After thorough research and study in recent years, we came to believe that Islam is the best and most complete religion, and this is why we chose it."