Iran

At least three police officers were killed in separate attacks by jihadists and gunmen in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, state media reported Monday.

One of Iran's poorest regions, Sistan-Baluchistan on the border with Pakistan has long been plagued by unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and Sunni extremists.

"A border guard was killed a few hours ago in a clash with gunmen in Hirmand in Sistan-Baluchistan province," the official IRNA news agency reported.

A separate attack on law enforcement in the same region Monday left another border guard killed and two others wounded, IRNA said.

The news agency also reported that a member of the police special force was killed in the town of Khash, also in Sistan-Baluchistan.

The Pakistan-based Sunni jihadist group Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice in Arabic, claimed responsibility for the last two attacks in a message on Telegram.

The group has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent months, including a Sunday raid that killed a policeman in the same region.

Iran will not deploy forces to Lebanon or Gaza to confront Israel, its foreign ministry said Monday, as Israeli strikes target its allies in the region.

"There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani, adding that Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories "have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression."

Israel has in recent days been launching heavy airstrikes in Lebanon against the so-called "axis of resistance," a network of Iran-aligned militant groups in the region, including in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

An Israeli strike Friday on Beirut killed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that Iran has armed and financed for years.

"We have not received any request in this regard from any side. On the contrary, we are informed and are sure that they do not need the help of our forces," Kanani told reporters in Tehran.

Kanani nonetheless vowed that Israel "will not remain without reprimand and punishment for the crimes it has committed against the Iranian people, military personnel and the resistance forces.”

Also Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Hezbollah's office in Tehran "to pay tribute" to Nasrallah, according to the government's website.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of the state, has vowed that Nasrallah's death "will not be in vain," and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said it would bring about Israel's "destruction."

Iran has also vowed to avenge the killing of Abbas Nilforushan, a top commander of the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' foreign operations arm, who died alongside the Hezbollah leader.