Foreign minister hits back at US president’s comments on suicide bombing claimed by Islamic State that killed 17 on Wednesday

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Iran has denounced Donald Trump’s reaction to Wednesday’s deadly attacks in Tehran as “repugnant”, after the US president warned that the nation was reaping what it sows.

The death toll in the attacks on Tehran’s parliament complex and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – the first to be claimed by Islamic State in Iran - rose to 17 on Thursday.

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.”

That was condemned by the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who tweeted: “Repugnant WH (White House) statement … as Iranians counter terror backed by US clients.”

What is the significance of Isis claiming the Tehran attack? Isis adheres to a puritanical Sunni strain of Islam and considers Shias apostates. While it has carried out many attacks in Iraq, it has been unable to strike inside Iran itself, a Shia state. Extremist Sunni militants have often stated their intention to attack Iran, portraying it as an imperialistic power that is oppressing Sunnis around the region, however they have very rarely been able to carry out major operations inside the country. The attack comes at a time of great regional tension, with Iran and its regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia trading accusations of sponsoring terrorism. The coordinated assault will further stoke those tensions.

Iran’s intelligence ministry said the five men who carried out the attacks were Iranians who joined Isis in Iraq and Syria before returning last summer.

The men were part of a network that entered Iran in July-August 2016 under the leadership of “high-ranking Daesh commander” Abu Aisha and that “intended to carry out terrorist operations in religious cities,” a statement said.

Abu Aisha was killed and the network forced to flee the country, the statement added. It was not clear when the five men returned to Iran.

The statement indicates only five people carried out the attacks, rather than six as originally reported. The attackers were armed with rifles and pistols and at least two blew themselves up with suicide vests.

Police said five people were arrested around Khomeini’s shrine on suspicion of involvement, while the intelligence ministry said a third team had been stopped before the attacks started.

Isis has threatened to step up recruitment within Iran, releasing its first Persian-language video in March in which it threatened to “conquer Iran and restore it to the Sunni Muslim nation as it was before”.

The Sunni jihadis of Isis consider Shia Iran to be apostates, and Tehran is deeply involved in fighting the group in both Syria and Iraq.

Iran has a sizable Sunni population along its restive borders with Iraq and Pakistan from which Isis is hoping to recruit.

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 that would impose new sanctions on Iran, partly for what the bill described as the Iranian regime’s “support for acts of international terrorism”.

Iranian security officials counter that it is their regional rival Saudi Arabia – a close US ally – that is responsible for funding and spreading the extremism that underpins Isis.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accused Riyadh and Washington of being “involved” in Wednesday’s attacks, drawing a link to Trump’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia.

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“For these two actions to happen … after this meeting means that the US and Saudi regimes had ordered their stooges to do this,” said Mohammad Hossein Nejat, deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards intelligence branch, according to the Fars news agency.

Other Iranian leaders sought to play down the attacks, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying: “These firecrackers that happened today will not have the slightest effect on the will of the people.”

Parliament was in session as the violence unfolded and members were keen to show they were undeterred, continuing with regular business.

President Hassan Rouhani said “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”.