IRAN PARLIAMENT, SHRINE ATTACK:
Twin attacks In Tehran kill 12
Iran says the attackers who killed 12 people in the capital Tehran were Iranians who had joined so-called Islamic State (IS). Suicide bombers attacked Parliament and the mausoleum of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Khomeini. All the attackers were killed. Five people believed to be planning a third attack were arrested, officials said.
Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards accused Saudi Arabia and the US of being behind the attacks. The violence comes amid heightened tension in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states cutting ties with Qatar over alleged support for Islamist militants and closer ties with Iran. Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shia-majority Iran are staunch regional rivals.
Reza Seifollahi, deputy chief of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the attackers “had joined Daesh [IS] from a number of regions inside Iran.” IS earlier claimed the attacks - a first for Iran - and threatened further assaults on Iranian Shia Muslims. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed revenge for the bloodshed, but pointed the finger at the US and Saudi Arabia in the wake of President Donald Trump’s recent visit to the kingdom.
“This terrorist action, coming one week after the meeting of the President of the United States with the leader of the one of the region’s reactionary governments (Saudi Arabia)... shows they are involved in this savage action,” it said in a statement.
The US and Saudi Arabia both condemned the attacks. US President Donald Trump said he was praying for the victims, but added that “states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote”.
Claiming the attack, IS posted a video which showed what it claimed was footage from inside the parliament building.
A voice is heard saying, in Arabic: “We’re not going anywhere. We’re staying forever.”
It is a terrorist attack and it underlines the need for us to be constantly vigilant, never to be deterred, always defiant, in the face of Islamist terrorism. Malcolm Turnbull Australian PM