Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the “riots” pave the way for “terrorist” attacks, a day after a fatal attack on a shrine in the southern city of Shiraz claimed by ISIS.
“The enemy’s goal is to disrupt the country’s advance, and then those riots prepare the ground for terrorist acts,” he said in televised remarks Thursday, in an obvious attempt to link the attack on the shrine to ongoing anti-government protests. in the country.
At least 15 other people were killed Wednesday in an attack on a major Shiite Muslim shrine in Shiraz, according to state media.
State television said it was carried out during night prayers by an armed assailant at Shah Cheragh shrine and that at least 19 other people were wounded.
The attacker was a man “in his thirties” who had been arrested by security forces, authorities said.
ISIS, which once controlled vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, has claimed responsibility for past violence in Iran, two fatal attacks in 2017 that targeted parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The commander of the country’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Iran would retaliate.
“We firmly declare: the fire of revenge of the other Iranians, despite everything, will catch up with them and punish them for their shameful acts,” Hossein Salami was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news firm on Wednesday.
Raisi also promised “a tough response” and condemned the “enemies of Iran” who are going to “divide the united ranks of the nation. . . through violence and terror. “
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei echoed the sentiment, calling for unity after the attack on the shrine and saying he “will actually be punished,” state TV reported.
“We all have a duty to confront the enemy and his treacherous or ignorant agents. The security organs, the judiciary, the militants of the thought box. . . and the others will have to be united against. . . contempt for the life, protection and sanctity of others,” Khamenei said in a reading on state television.
The attack on the shrine came as thousands of people paid their respects to Mahsa Amini, 40 days after her death in police custody.
Dozens of people, mostly protesters but also members of the security forces, were killed in the unrest sparked by the 22-year-old’s death on Sept. 16 after she was arrested by police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress codes. women.
Hundreds of people, women, were arrested.
Iran’s judiciary has charged more than 1,000 people arrested in connection with the protests.
At least 4 were charged with a crime of death, while others were charged with “endangering the security of the country”, “propaganda” against the government and “attacking security forces”.
Authorities said many other people who were not involved in the “riots” had been released.