TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency says authorities foiled an assassination attempt against the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s foreign wing, or Quds Force, last month.

Thursday’s says the attempt against Gen. Qassim Soleimani occurred in September, when Soleimani planned to attend a religious ceremony in the southeastern Kerman province.

It said attackers had planned to plant nearly 500 kilograms, about 1,102 pounds, of explosives in an underground tunnel beneath where Soleimani would have been.

The report didn’t elaborate on number of the suspects, but said they were linked to Israeli and Arab intelligence services.

Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s regional entrenchment, has been one of the most influential commanders of the Revolutionary Guard and played a key role in fights against the extremist Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.