Iran’s Khamenei vows revenge after lethal assault on shrine By Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s supreme Chief vowed on Thursday to retaliate towards these threatening the nation’s safety after the bloodbath of Shi’ite pilgrims, an assault claimed by Islamic State which threatens to inflame tensions amid widespread anti-government protests.

In an announcement learn on state TV, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei mentioned the assailants “will certainly be punished” and referred to as on Iranians to unite.

“All of us have an obligation to take care of the enemy and its traitorous or ignorant brokers,” mentioned Khamenei a day after the assault killed 15 individuals.

Khamenei’s name for unity gave the impression to be directed at largely authorities loyalists and never protesters whose practically six-week previous motion is seen as a risk to nationwide safety by authorities.

Iran’s clerical rulers have confronted nationwide protests because the demise in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish girl, on Sept. 16.

Iranians have referred to as for the demise of Khamenei and an finish to the Islamic Republic throughout the protests, which have grow to be one of many boldest challenges to the clerical management because the 1979 revolution, drawing many Iranians on to the streets.

Iranian officers mentioned they’d arrested a gunman who carried out the assault on the Shah Cheragh shrine within the metropolis of Shiraz. State media blamed “takfiri terrorists” – a label Tehran makes use of for hardline Sunni Muslim militants similar to Islamic State.

A senior official mentioned the suspected attacker was in essential situation after being shot by police.

“The shrine terrorist is in essential situation… and we now have not been capable of interrogate him but,” mentioned deputy provincial governor Easmail Mohebipour, quoted by the semi-official Tasnim information company.

CCTV footage broadcast on state TV on Thursday confirmed the attacker getting into the shrine after hiding an assault rifle in a bag and capturing as worshippers tried to flee and conceal in corridors.

Islamic State, which as soon as posed a safety risk throughout the Center East, has claimed earlier violence in Iran, together with lethal twin assaults in 2017 that focused parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Because the peak of its energy, when it dominated thousands and thousands of individuals within the Center East and struck worry the world over with lethal bombings and shootings, Islamic State has slipped again into the shadows.

Iran typically accuses the West and its regional rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia of fomenting assaults. Saudi Arabia denies this and Israel often declines to touch upon its strikes towards the Islamic Republic.

Wednesday’s killing of Shi’ite pilgrims got here on the identical day that Iranian safety forces clashed with more and more strident protesters marking 40 days since Amini’s demise.

Iranian human rights teams mentioned there have been unconfirmed studies that some members of Amini’s household are underneath home arrest. Reuters couldn’t confirm these studies. Reuters tried to achieve Amini’s father and brother.

The authorities, who’ve accused america and different Western international locations of fomenting what they name “riots”, have but to declare a demise toll, however state media have mentioned about 30 members of the safety forces have been killed.

The activist information company HRANA mentioned in a posting that at the least 252 protesters had been killed within the unrest, together with 36 minors.

It mentioned 30 members of the safety forces had been killed and greater than 13,800 individuals had been arrested as of Wednesday in protests in 122 cities and cities and a few 109 universities.