Iran says it has dismantled three terrorist groups, which were planning attacks on Muslims during the annual Arba’een pilgrimage, in southwestern Khuzestan Province.

Speaking during a visit to the Shalamcheh border with Iraq, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said that members of the terror outfits had been detained.

“In recent days, three terrorist teams were identified in Khuzestan and their members, numbering 15, were arrested,” he told reporters.

The detainees had said that they were planning to conduct bomb attacks, hurt and kill Arba'een pilgrims, Alavi added.

Every year, millions of people from across the world flock to Iraq’s holy city of Karbala to mark 40 days since the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein, the third Shia Imam, at the hands of the tyrant of the time, Yazid I, back in the seventh century.

A group of Iranians gather in an unknown location to begin the Arba'een pilgrimage on October 16, 2018. (Fars news agency)

On September 22, a deadly terror attack targeted an Iranian military parade in Ahvaz, Khuzestan’s provincial capital. Daesh, along with the al-Ahwazia terrorist outfit, claimed the assault.

In response, Iran later rained surface-to-surface ballistic missiles on positions of Daesh in eastern Syria.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) also said earlier this month a high-ranking Daesh commander, who apparently masterminded the Ahvaz terror attack, had been killed in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala.