Iran says five Tehran attackers had fought for ISIL

TEHRAN // The five men who launched attacks in the heart of Iran’s capital previously fought for ISIL, the country’s intelligence ministry said on Thursday.

Wednesday’s attacks on Iran’s parliament and the tomb of its revolutionary leader killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 40.

The intelligence ministry issued a statement on its website suggesting there were only five attackers rather than the six originally reported. It showed bloody pictures of the men’s corpses and identified them by their first names only, saying it didn’t want to release their last names due to security and privacy concerns for their families.

The statement described the five men as "long affiliated with the Wahhabi", an ultraconservative form of Sunni Islam practised in Saudi Arabia. It stopped short of directly blaming the kingdom for the attack.

According to the ministry, the men had left Iran to fight for ISIL in the Iraqi city of Mosul as well as the Syrian city of Raqqa. It said they returned to Iran in August under the command of an ISIL leader and escaped when authorities initially broke up their extremist cell.

The ministry did not identify the men’s hometowns, nor say how they were able to evade authorities.

Reza Seifollahi, an official in the country’s Supreme National Security Council, was quoted by Iranian media as saying that the perpetrators of the attacks were Iranian nationals. He did not elaborate.

Police, meanwhile, said they were holding six suspects on Thursday as part of their investigation into the attacks. A woman suspected to be involved in the attack was arrested on Wednesday.

Earlier on Thursday, as dawn broke, commuters in the Iranian capital noticed increased numbers of police on street corners and motorcycles. It came after Mohammad Hossein Zolfaghari, a deputy interior minister, told state television that "law enforcement activities may increase".

"We are focused on intelligence" gathering, he said.

The state-run IRNA news agency also reported on Thursday that the death toll in the attacks had risen to 17, citing Ahmad Shojaei, the head of the country’s forensic centre.

Wednesday’s attacks on the Iranian parliament, as lawmakers were in session, and at the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini shocked Iranians who had until then avoided the chaos that followed ISIL’s rise in Syria and Iraq. Iranian forces are backing embattled Syrian president Bashar Al Assad while Tehran is also supporting militias fighting against the extremists in Iraq.

The attack came as emboldened Sunni Arab states – backed by US president Donald Trump – are hardening their stance against Iran.

A statement from Mr Trump condemned the attacks in Tehran and offered condolences, but also implied that Iran is itself a sponsor of terrorism.

"We grieve and pray for the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks in Iran, and for the Iranian people, who are going through such challenging times," it said. "We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote."

The comments sparked anger from Iranians on social media, who recalled the vigils in Tehran that followed the September 11 attacks. In a tweet on Thursday, foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the White House comments "repugnant" and accused the US of supporting terror.

"Iranian people reject such US claims of friendship," he tweeted.

Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard indirectly blamed Saudi Arabia for the attacks. A statement issued on Wednesday evening stopped short of alleging direct Saudi involvement but called it "meaningful" that the attacks followed Mr Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, where he strongly asserted Washington’s support for Riyadh.

The statement said Saudi Arabia "constantly supports" terrorists including ISIL, adding that the extremist group’s claim of responsibility "reveals [Saudi Arabia’s] hand in this barbaric action".

The "spilt blood of the innocent will not remain unavenged," the Revolutionary Guard added.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash said on Wednesday that "the Iranian government should not use the attack in a very polarised situation against Saudi Arabia or claim that Saudi Arabia is somehow linked to the attack, because it isn’t".

On the streets of the capital on Thursday, Iranians said they remained suspicious that Saudi Arabia had a hand in the attack. Some pointed to comments in May by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman who said his country would "work so that it becomes a battle for them in Iran and not in Saudi Arabia".

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, used the attacks to defend Tehran’s involvement in wars abroad. He told a group of students that if "Iran had not resisted", it would have faced even more troubles.

* Associated Press, with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse