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Gunmen ambushed an Iranian military parade on Saturday and killed 25 people in a shameless attack that the Tehran authorities blamed on Saudi-backed "terrorists", fueling tensions between regional rivals.
The attack on the southwestern city of Ahvaz, about 50 kilometers from the Iraqi border, is the largest in the country since militant Islamic State attacked parliament and a mausoleum in June 2017.
An Arab separatist group of ethnic origin claimed responsibility on Saturday, as did the Islamic State, but the Iranian authorities accused the separatists. Ramezan Sharif, spokesperson for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard's elite, accused Saudi Arabia of supporting the attackers. He did not elaborate.
The Iranian media said the attackers were disguised as army uniforms and that tired militias opened fire on a parade marking the anniversary of the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, a conflict of eight years. sides.
President Hassan Rouhani told the governor of Ahvaz province, on a phone call, that "Iran's response to the smallest threat will be overwhelming. But those who support terrorists in terms of intelligence and propaganda should be held accountable, "according to a statement posted on an official government website.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the foreign powers had helped the attack, accusing the United States of complicity.
"Terrorists recruited, trained, armed and paid by a foreign regime attacked Ahvaz. Children and journalists among the victims. Iran holds regional sponsors of terrorism and their American masters responsible for these attacks. Iran will respond quickly and decisively to the defense of Iranian lives, "Zarif wrote on Twitter.
The Saudi government did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Injured soldiers lay on the floor of the attack during a military parade that killed 25 people.
Photo:
alireza mohammadi / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images
Tehran's accusation that Saudi Arabia has supported the attackers could fuel tension in the Persian Gulf.
The Saudi authorities are concerned about strengthening Iran's military presence in the region through its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war. The renewal of US sanctions against Iran – hailed by Saudi Arabia – has put new pressures on the Iranian economy.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are also fighting on both sides in the bloody war in Yemen, and have broken off diplomatic relations since a crowd of protesters attacked and bombed the Saudi diplomatic mission in Tehran in 2016.
The Saturday morning attack targeted Iran's military showdown on a day of nationalist pride and remembrance. Thousands of soldiers marched through the streets of Iran and the army announced a parade of warships and jet fighters.
Local media broadcast video footage of the chaotic scene when shots were fired during the contest, sending civilians dodging and fleeing. Images of the scene showed ambulances arriving at the scene and soldiers in blood uniforms.
Three of the four armed men who participated in the attack were killed and the fourth arrested, General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for the Iranian armed forces, said on state television. He said the attackers had hidden their weapons in the area before the parade.
Tasnim, a media linked to the Revolutionary Guards, said that 25 people had been killed in the attack. More than 50 people were injured, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, citing an anonymous source.
The Iranian government did not immediately seem to pay attention to ISIS allegations that it was behind the attack. The Islamic State last year carried out a large-scale attack in Tehran, and fought Iranian and Iranian forces in Syria and Iraq, but has no proven connection to the Ahvaz separatists. The population of southwestern Iran, whose attackers appeared to be guarding, is mostly Shiite, which has been the target of sectarian attacks by the Islamic State.
Khuzestan province, of which Ahvaz is the capital, has for decades been home to Arab separatists of ethnic origin seeking to free themselves from what they call the Iranian "occupation". The Iranian population is essentially ethnic.
There are regular skirmishes in the border areas of Iran, but a coordinated attack on a parade is rare. The Arab separatists in the province have already clashed with the Iranian army and attacked oil facilities.
A spokesman for the separatist group – known as the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz – said the attack took place "because of the tyranny of the Ahvazis." Yaqoub al-Tostari was speaking to a broadcaster financed by Saudi investors.
In an interview, Habib Jabor, the leader of the Danish-based opposition group, which has an armed wing that has already carried out attacks inside Iran, has denied military support to the Saudis.
Although the Saudi media often defends the Ahvazi separatist cause, military ties or Saudi logistical support to the armed operations of groups inside Iran are not verified.
The Iranian government and army are very vigilant towards separatist groups. On 9 September, the Revolutionary Guards fired seven short-range missiles at a base of Iranian Kurdish dissidents across the border in northern Iraq, killing 11 people. The IRGC accused the group of planning terrorist attacks and acts of aggression against Iran.
– Isabel Coles in Erbil, Iraq, contributed to this article
Write to Sune Engel Rasmussen at [email protected]
