Militants shot dead at least 29 people including women and children in an attack Saturday on an Iranian military parade claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, as Tehran accused a U.S. ally in the region of the assault.
The attack in the southwestern city of Ahvaz came as the country marked the anniversary of the start of its 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and prompted President Hassan Rouhani to warn of a “crushing response”. “The response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing”, Mr. Rouhani said on his official website.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet that the attack near the Iraqi border by gunmen was carried out by “terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime”.
IS jihadists said via their propaganda mouthpiece Amaq that “Islamic State fighters attacked a gathering of Iranian forces” in Ahvaz. The city lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community and has seen separatist violence in the past that Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.
Women, children killed
State television gave a casualty toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded, while official news agency IRNA said those killed included women and children among spectators at the rally. Many of the wounded were in critical condition.
Armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said the dead included a young girl and a former serviceman in a wheelchair.
Khuzestan deputy governor Ali-Hossein Hosseinzadeh told the semi-official ISNA news agency that “eight to nine” troops were among those killed, as well as a journalist. Mr. Zarif did not specify which regional government he held responsible for the shooting, but Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said the attackers were funded by Sunni arch-rival Saudi Arabia. “Those who opened fire on civilians and the armed forces have links to the Ahvazi movement,” Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif told ISNA. “They are funded by Saudi Arabia and attempted to cast a shadow over the Iranian armed forces.”
Putin ‘appalled’
In a message of condolence to Russia’s close regional ally, President Vladimir Putin said he was “appalled by this bloody crime”.
The attack in Ahvaz came as President Rouhani was among dignitaries at the main anniversary parade in Tehran.
In a keynote speech, Mr. Rouhani vowed to boost Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities despite Western concerns that were cited by his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in May when he abandoned a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.