In a statement on August 4, Iran's Ministry of Intelligence identified the people arrested as "Takfiri-Zionist terrorists" and accused Israel of hiring them.

The ministry did not provide the names of the alleged IS militants or say where they were being detained.

The statement, published by the Fars news agency, which is affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said the people arrested were found with explosive equipment, communication devices, and weapons.

The arrests were made in two locations -- one in the west and one in the south of the country -- in the last three days, the statement added.

The ministry said a clash occurred at one of the locations that resulted in the alleged militants wounding two Iranian intelligence agents in an exchange of gunfire before they were arrested.

In recent years, especially after the armed attack on the Iranian parliament and on Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's tomb in 2017, the security institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran have occasionally reported the arrest of IS members before they carried out sabotage operations.

With writing and reporting by Ardeshir Tayebi