Dubai: Iran has arrested more than 40 suspected militants around the country, half of whom were planning to reach Iraq and Syria, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi was quoted as saying by state media on Tuesday.

The militant groups fighting in Iraq and Syria, such as Islamic State, are hardline Sunni Islamists who regard Shiite power Iran as heretical.

Propaganda for Islamic State shows its fighters in a convoy of vehicles bearing the group's flag. Credit:AP

Alavi said the arrests took place in the northern provinces of Golestan, Mozandaran and Tehran, Khuzestan in the south, and Sistan-Baluchistan in the east.