Iranian leaders float links to protest
Iran’s supreme leader and its president tried yesterday to link the nationwide protests roiling the country to an Islamic State-claimed gun attack on a famous mosque that killed 15 people.
The comments come as Iran’s theocracy has been unable to contain the demonstrations, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her detention by the country’s morality police.
There is no evidence linking extremist groups to the widespread, largely peaceful demonstrations that have been repeatedly targeted by a heavy-handed security force crackdown in the country.
The protests, the most serious unrest to grip Iran since its 2009 Green Movement demonstrations, have vented anger over Iran’s cratered economy and its theocracy. Some 200 people have died, with thousands of others arrested, activists say.
On Thursday, a gunman opened fire on worshippers at Shiraz’s Shah Cheragh mosque, the second-holiest site in Iran. State media said at least 15 people were killed in the assault, which authorities initially attributed to multiple gunmen.
Footage released by authorities showed the gunman walking near the mosque with a large backpack, then later moving inside with a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle. Barefoot worshippers inside try to flee as the man opens fire, then hunts those hiding. Blood could be seen on the mosque’s floor.
Riot police later captured the man, who authorities have yet to identify.
The Islamic State group late on Thursday claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq news agency. It said an armed IS militant stormed the shrine and opened fire on visitors.
In a speech yesterday, President Ebrahim Raisi described the ongoing protests as “riots” that allowed for the shooting to take place, without providing evidence linking them.
Iran’s 83-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blamed the attack on a “plot of the enemies”.
“We all have duties to deal a blow to the warmongering enemy and its treacherous and foolish cohorts,” Khamenei reportedly said. “All our people ranging from the security bodies and the judiciary body and activists in the field of media must be united against the wave that disregards and disrespects people’s lives . . . and their sacred things.”