US response to terror in Tehran ‘repugnant’ – Iran
IRAN’S foreign minister yesterday called the White House statement about the double attack on Tehran that killed 17 people “repugnant” after it linked the assault to what it called Iran’s support for terror.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry also issued a statement identifying five of the attackers as Iranians who had left the country to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and published photos of their bodies.
Javad Zarif, who is on a visit to Turkey, also criticised a vote by the US Senate soon after the attack to extend sanctions on Iran in a tweet.
“Iranian people reject such US claims of friendship,” he said, hinting in the tweet that the terror attacks were “backed by US clients”.
The US statement, which expressed grief for the victims, concluded with the phrase “states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote”. Other countries such as Russia, Britain and France just expressed condolences for the attack.
The Trump administration has taken a much harder line towards Iran than its predecessor, describing it as the top state sponsor of terrorism in the world and backing the view of allies Israel and Saudi Arabia that Iran is the chief threat to stability in the region.
The attacks on Iran’s parliament and the venerated shrine of the Islamic Republic’s founder shocked the country and were claimed by the Islamic State – an avowed enemy of both Iran and the US. Both countries are fighting Isis in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.
Iranians awoke yesterday to find increased security on the streets of the capital and an announcement that the death toll from the attack had risen by five to 17, according to the coroner’s office.
Emergency medical services said 52 had been injured, with 31 people still in hospital.
Police chief Brigadier-General Hossein Ashtari said yesterday that one of the attackers was in custody and being interrogated.
According to the Interior Ministry, on Wednesday four people attacked the parliament building with automatic weapons, with one detonating an explosive vest and the others eventually being gunned down by security.
The men entered the building disguised as women, who in Iran often wear billowing robes that would have allowed them to conceal weapons. A two-person team, including a woman, launched a near simultaneous attack against Ayatollah Khomeini’s enormous tomb complex in the south of the city.
The woman blew herself up with an explosive vest, according to the ministry statement.
Both sites are revered symbols for Iran. Washington Post