Iran-backed groups ready to guard revolution: Official

TEHRAN

An Iranian official said Wednesday that Iran-backed Shia groups were ready to defend the Islamic revolution if the Iranians stopped supporting it.

This came in remarks by head of Tehran's Islamic Revolution courts, Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, during a religious meeting in the southern Qom province.

There are "[Iraqi] Hashd al-Shaabi, [Yemeni] Houthis, the Afghan Fatemiyoun and the Pakistani Zainebiyoun to protect the revolution”, Ghazanfarabadi said.

The Iranian official asserted that espionage was one of the major problems facing Iran.

"Some officials do not pay attention to this issue," he said, warning that the "detection of spies is extremely hard."

Writing by Mahmoud Barakat