Iranian military on Thursday killed six members of a “terrorist” group in Zahedan, the capital city of the Sistan and Baluchistan province in southeastern Iran.The Sistan-Baluchistan province frequently sees clashes between security forces and armed Sunni-separatist groups and is a major drug trafficking route.The Iranian revolutionary guards had reportedly discovered and confiscated explosive packages from the “terrorists”, IRNA news agency reported.However, Tehran did not identify the six people killed and gave no further information on the incident.On Wednesday, an explosion was reportedly heard in Zahedan with no reported damage, Fars news agency reported, citing the city’s administrative office.Human rights group Haalvsh, which monitors Sistan-Baluchistan, said fighting between military and security forces and armed individuals had started on Thursday morning.Tehran accuses some armed groups of ties to foreign powers and involvement in cross-border smuggling, Reuters reported.
Iran weighs US response to peace proposal
These developments emerged while Tehran considers Washington’s reply to its most recent proposal for reviving the broken ceasefire.On Wednesday, the US response to Iran’s seven-day peace plan was formally delivered to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani stated that foreign minister Abbas Araghchi was informed of the response through Qatari mediators, IRNA news agency reported. The proposal was delivered to Pezeshkian during a cabinet meeting in Iran.Iran is also bracing for the possibility that the US will renew large-scale military strikes.Hamidreza Azizi, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Reuters that Tehran is unsure whether President Donald Trump will mount another major campaign or settle for narrower strikes, such as attacks on nuclear sites.“But they seem determined not to respond symbolically to a symbolic move and instead to escalate in the hope of reestablishing deterrence,” Azizi told Reuters.On Thursday, Pezeshkian said Iran will never avoid dialogue with the US, despite being attacked after truce.“We have never shied away from talks, and we never will, although the United States has targeted our country three times despite having signed an agreement,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying.
