Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday said that attacks in Tehran by the Islamic State group that killed at least 17 people would increase hatred toward the US and Saudi Arabia, state TV reported.
Suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the Iranian parliament and Ayatollah Khomeini’s mausoleum in Tehran on Wednesday. Scores of people were wounded.
“It will not damage our nation’s determination to fight terrorism ... but will only increase hatred for the governments of the United States and their stooges in the region like Saudis,” Khamenei said in a message read at the funeral of people killed in the attacks.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks and threatened more against Iran’s majority Shiite population, who are considered heretics by Sunni Muslims.
Iran on Thursday said that five of its nationals who were involved in the attacks were Islamic State members who had been to the group’s strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
“The five known terrorists ... after joining the DAESH terrorist group, left the country and participated in crimes carried out by this terrorist group in Mosul and Raqa,” the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence said in a statement, using an Arabic-language acronym for the Islamic State group.
The ministry said that there were only five attackers, rather than the six originally reported.
An official said previously that those who attacked the parliament complex had been dressed as women.
The ministry released their photographs and first names.
It said they were part of a network that entered Iran in July and August last year under the leadership of “high-ranking DAESH commander” Abu Aisha intending to carry out “terrorist operations in religious cities.”
Abu Aisha was killed and the network forced to flee the country, the statement said.
It was unclear when the five men returned to Iran ahead of Wednesday’s attacks.
The Islamic State on Thursday released a video of the five attackers before the assault via its Amaq news agency.
“Allah permitting, this is the first brigade that was established [in Iran], but it will not be the last,” one said in the video message as the group sat masked in a circle with their weapons.
The Islamic State group had earlier released footage of the attackers from inside the building, also via Amaq — a rare claim of responsibility while an assault was still going on.
Following the attacks, US President Donald Trump said the US would “grieve and pray” for the victims, but added: “We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote.”
The statement was criticized by Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif, who tweeted: “Repugnant WH [White House] statement... as Iranians counter terror backed by US clients.”
Trump was also criticized on social media by Iranians, who recalled their government’s offers of support and the candlelight vigils held in Iran after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the US.
“Iranians lit candles for you on 9/11. You kick them while they’re down. Classy,” tweeted Ali Ghezelbash, an Iranian business analyst.
The US president has long accused Iran of backing terrorism and has threatened to tear up a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers.
Even as Washington expressed its condolences on Wednesday, the US Senate advanced legislation to impose new sanctions on Iran, partly for what the bill described as the regime’s “support for acts of international terrorism.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese