Iran puts blame on U.S., Saudis

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian leaders on Friday accused the U.S. and Saudi Arabia of supporting the Islamic State-claimed dual attacks that killed 17 people in Tehran this week, as thousands of Iranians attended a funeral ceremony for the victims.

The country’s supreme leader said the attacks will add to the hatred that Iranians harbour toward the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

In a condolence message ahead of a funeral for the victims, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attack “will not damage the Iranian nation’s determination and the obvious result is nothing except an increase in hate for the governments of the United States and their stooges in the region like Saudi (Arabia),” state media reported.

On Thursday, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavai said investigators were working to determine whether Saudi Arabia had a role Wednesday’s attacks.

During the funeral, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani called the U.S. the “international” version of Islamic State and said Washington had exchanged democracy for money, a reference to a recent huge arms deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. State TV broadcast the ceremony live.

He said anti-Iranian remarks by Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister and U.S. President Donald Trump are a “matter of disgrace” for them.

Larijani also criticized a Wednesday decision by the U.S. Senate to move forward on a new set of sanctions against Iran, including its elite Revolutionary Guards, a move that came on the same day as the Tehran attacks.

During a massive funeral ceremony in Tehran following Friday prayers, thousands chanted “Down with the U.S.” and “Death to Al-Saud,” the Saudi royal family, while carrying the coffins of victims.

Also on Friday, Iranian state TV said the Intelligence Ministry had detained 41 suspects in Tehran and the western Kurdish provinces of the country.

The report called the detainees “elements of the Wahhabi IS group,” and said they were inSATURDAY, volved in operations, communication and logistics for the local Islamic State cell.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry increased the number of wounded to 52, up from 40.

Reportedly two guards, 10 government staffers and five civilians were killed in the attacks .

GETTY IMAGES Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani walks alongside the relative of a victim of twin attacks in Tehran earlier in the week during a funeral in the capital.