Iran blames Gulf foes for parade attack
> Khamenei: ‘US puppets’ want to cause insecurity
TEHRAN: Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of carrying out a shooting attack on a military parade that killed 25 people, almost half of them members of the elite Revolutionary Guards.
Khamenei ordered security forces to bring to justice those responsible for one of the worst assaults ever against the Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful military force in the country, which answers to him.
The allegation will likely ratchet up tensions with Iran’s rival Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, which along with the US have been working to isolate Tehran.
“This crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the US, and their goal is to create insecurity in our dear country,” Khamenei said in a statement published on his website.
He did not name the regional states he believed were to blame. Israel is also a key US ally opposed to Tehran.
An Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance, which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Islamic State militants also claimed responsibility. Neither claim provided evidence. All four attackers were killed.
The assault, which wounded at least 70, targeted a viewing stand where officials had gathered in the city of Ahvaz to watch an annual event marking the start of the 1980-88 war with Iraq, state television said.
Iran has been relatively stable compared with neighbouring Arab countries that have grappled with upheaval since the 2011 uprisings across the Middle East.
Women and children died in the assault, state news IRNA agency reported.
The assailants had hidden weapons near the parade route several days in advance, armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said.
“All four terrorists were quickly neutralised by security forces. A fouryear-old girl and a wheelchair-bound war veteran were among the dead.” – Reuters