Iranian authorities have executed nine people they say were members of the Islamic State group, state media report, after their arrest in early 2018 during clashes in which three members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed.

The nine detainees, whose nationalities were not given, were accused of "moharebeh" - an Islamic term meaning waging war against God - armed uprising and possession of weapons of war.

State media said they were part of a team of several Islamic State fighters tracked by Revolutionary Guards after they crossed Iran's western border in view of carrying out attacks on Iranian territory.

Authorities said they had seized a cache of combat weapons, including a machine gun and 50 grenades, after surrounding the militants' hideout.

The arrests had taken place months after a deadly Islamic State attack on the Iranian parliament in Tehran and the mausoleum of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

While the threat of attacks from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has significantly decreased since the group's defeat, Iran has been targeted in recent deadly attacks from the Islamic State's Afghanistan branch.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the number of people executed in Iran rose to at least 901 in 2024, the highest number since 2015.

with AP

Australian Associated Press