Iranian speaker says US undermining N-deal

Clashes over water in southern Iran kill 1, injure 30

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (center), attends a security meeting with the prime minister, defence minister and the commanders of the armed forces on on July 19, at the presidential palace in Bamako, after the military camp in Nampala was attacked. At least 17 soldiers were killed in central Mali on July 19

TEHRAN, July 20, (Agencies): Iran’s influential parliament speaker hit out at Washington Wednesday, accusing it of disrupting implementation of last year’s landmark nuclear deal and failing in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Ali Larijani, a conservative who helped the nuclear deal pass in parliament last year, warned that Washington risked forcing Tehran into a path of renewed confrontation by putting obstacles in the way of its promised readmittance to the world economy.

“With great sadness, parliament ... warns the US administration, House of Representatives and Senate that the efforts to undermine the nuclear agreement have reached a point that leaves no option for Iran but confrontation,” he said.

Larjiani said the West had failed to give Iran sufficient recognition for its contribution to the fight against IS and hit out at the United Nations for continuing sanctions against its foreign operations commander.

Larijani said Western governments should be “thankful to Iran and (its elite Revolutionary Guard foreign operations unit) the Quds Force who have helped Iraq against the bestial terrorists” of IS.

“You, who neither have the courage to confront DAESH (IS), nor know how to fight it, as they carry out bloody attacks in three European countries... how dare you call the admirable Quds Force’s fight a violation?” he asked.

The Quds Force and its commander Major General Qassem Suleimani remain under UN sanctions over its involvement in Iran’s ballistic missile programme, which was not covered by last year’s nuclear deal.

The sanctions include a travel ban and a recent visit to Baghdad by Suleimani was criticised by UN chief Ban Ki-moon in his latest six-monthly report on implementation of the sanctions.

Long a shadowy figure, Suleimani has become the public face of Iran’s

Coulibaly called the assault a “coordinated terrorist attack on our positions,” but did not say who was responsible.

In the hours after the assaults two groups — one jihadist, the other ethnic — both claimed to have carried out the raid on the military camp in Nampala.

Islamist group Ansar Dine said in a message that it carried out a “huge attack” that had killed “dozens of soldiers and wound(ed) large numbers,” according to the US-based group SITE that monitors jihadist communications.

Ansar Dine, which is one of several active jihadist groups roaming Mali’s north, also claimed to have taken control of the army barracks and carried off a large quantity of “spoils”.

Earlier on Tuesday, a group from the ethnic Peul community, calling themselves the National Alliance for the Protection of Peul Identity and Restoration of Justice (ANSIPRJ), said they had killed eight troops in the attack.

“It was self-defence,” Sidy Cisse, a senior ANSIPRJ commander, told AFP, adding three of his men were hurt.

The group also claimed to have wounded 11 soldiers, as well as making off with two trucks and five pick-up trucks.

Senior figures within ANSIPRJ are also members of a Peul association that decried the murder of what it said were several Peuls falsely accused of supporting jihadists active in the area.

Several security sources in the region told AFP they doubted the veracity of the claim of responsibility from ANSIPRJ as the group was only founded last month following intercommunal clashes in the area and lacked the means to mount an attack.

Coulibaly said the government was aware “a group had issued a claim. We are being careful.”

“One thing is sure, this was a terrorist action that targeted a military objective. So an appropriate military response is forthcoming,” he added.

The Malian government said the attackers would be hunted down and punished, and that the military had control of Nampala.

Northern Mali has seen repeated violence since it fell under the control of Tuareg-led rebels who allied with jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda in 2012.

But attacks are now becoming more frequent in the country’s centre, close to its borders with Burkina Faso and Niger, both from criminal and jihadist elements.

Although Islamists were largely ousted by an ongoing Frenchled military operation launched in January 2013, sporadic attacks from desert hideouts are common.

in an attack on their base claimed by gunmen from the Peul ethnic group. The gunmen’s descent on the military camp in Nampala was earlier claimed by a group calling themselves the National Alliance for the Protection of Peul Identity and Restoration of Justice (ANSIPRJ). (AFP)

intervention against IS in Iraq and Syria, making repeated televised appearances from the front lines.

Iran is not part of the US-led coalition fighting the jihadists but has played a major military role in both countries.

Meanwhile, Iran’s semi-official ILNA news agency is reporting that at least one person has been killed and 30 people injured in clashes over a water supply.

The Tuesday report says 15 people were arrested after fighting broke out between supporters and opponents of a project to transfer water to a steel mill in the town of Boldaji, some 600 kms (373 miles) south of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

It says several cars were burnt by those opposing the project.

Some locals opposed the water transfer because they feared they did not have enough water to meet their needs. Iran is experiencing a drought, leading to water shortages across the country.