Iran investigates its military after attack on parade that killed 24

by WorldTribune Staff, October 16, 2018

Iran has arrested one member of its military and is investigating several others in connection to the attack on a military parade last month which killed 24 people.

Iranian military personnel mourn comrades who were killed in the Ahvaz attack. / AFP

“Eleven people were summoned and one was arrested, all of whom were military, and the case has been sent to Teheran,” Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, was cited as saying by Fars.

Gunmen dressed in military uniforms opened fire during a Sept. 22 military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan Province. Among the 24 killed and 60 wounded were a number of personnel from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The Islamic State (ISIS) and an Arab separatist group called the Ahvaz National Resistance claimed responsibility for the attack.

ISIS has threatened to carry out new attacks in Iran, saying the Islamic Republic is “flimsier than a spider’s web, and with God’s help, what comes will be worse and more bitter.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed the attack on “regional terror sponsors and their U.S. masters.”

Asked about Zarif’s comments, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo replied, “When you have a security incident at home, blaming others is an enormous mistake. And the loss of innocent life is tragic, and I wish Zarif would focus on keeping his own people secure rather than causing insecurity all around the world.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also accused the U.S., along with its Gulf state allies, of responsibility for the Ahvaz attack.

“The group behind the attack was financed and received military backing from the Gulf states – and the United States supplies the resources to the Gulf states to carry out these crimes,” Rouhani said, adding that Iran would “respond to these crimes within the framework of the law and international interests.”


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