ISIL claim attacks that kill 12 in Tehran
Gunmen and suicide bombers’ double strike on parliament complex and shrine to Ruhollah Khomeini leave 46 injured
TEHRAN // Twelve people were killed yesterday when gunmen and suicide bombers stormed Iran’s parliament and the shrine of its revolutionary leader. The attacks, which injured dozens of people, were the first in the country to be claimed by ISIL.
They targeted two of Iran’s most potent symbols: its parliament complex in central Tehran, and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The president, Hassan Rouhani, responded by calling for global unity against violent extremism.
“Iran’s message as always is that terrorism is a global problem, and unity to fight extremism, violence and terrorism with regional and international cooperation is the most important need of today’s world,” he said.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Anwar Gargash, condemned the attacks.
“Any terrorist attack in any country, in any capital, directed at innocent people is something that the UAE abhors and the UAE condemns”, he said. The assaults began midmorning when four gunmen burst into the parliament complex, killing a guard and one other person, the ISNA news agency reported.
Another official said the attackers were dressed as women and entered through the visitors’ entrance. One exploded a suicide vest while the others were killed by security forces.
One man, recovering in a hospital bed, told state television that he was waiting to meet an MP when the shooting began.
“I was in the visitors’ lobby and suddenly shooting began. There were women and children. I escaped towards the parliament, and was shot in the leg while running,” he said.
At about the same time, two assailants entered the grounds of the Khomeini mausoleum, killing a gardener and wounding several other people.
One detonated a suicide vest, while the other was shot dead.
It was not clear whether the shrine attackers were women, as earlier reported, or men wearing female clothing.
Iran’s emergency services said 12 people were killed in the two attacks and 46 wounded.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed the attacks as mere fireworks that would not weaken the country’s fight against terrorism.
“They are too small to affect the will of the Iranian nation and its officials,” he said.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the attacks would “certainly reinforce the determination of Iranians to fight against terrorism”. Parliament was in session as the violence unfolded and members were keen to show they were undeterred, posting selfies showing themselves as calm and continuing with regular business. Gunshots were heard in the neighbouring office buildings, with police helping staff to escape from windows and snipers taking position on rooftops.
Speaker Ali Larijani dismissed the attacks, saying they were a “trivial matter”.
The intelligence ministry said there had been a third terrorist team that was neutralised before the attacks started.
The stand-off lasted about five hours before all the gunmen holed up in parliamentary office buildings were killed.
Tehran was on lockdown, with streets blocked and parts of the metro closed.
The country’s Revolutionary Guard claimed the United States and Saudi Arabia were involved. It said they “will never allow the blood of innocents to be spilt without revenge”.
Adel Al Jubeir, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, rejected the accusation.
“We condemn terrorist attacks anywhere they occur and we condemn the killing of the innocent anywhere it occurs,” Mr Al Jubeir said.
He said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries would be willing to reestablish normal ties with Iran if it stopped supporting militants and fighters in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere across the region.
ISIL released a video of the attackers from inside the building through its Amaq propaganda agency.