Iran officials say 5 attackers fought for IS

Zarif tweeted. “Iranian people reject such United States claims of friendship”. Their statement, according to a Financial Times translation and annotation, read: “This terrorist act took place a week after a joint meeting between the U.S. president and head of a reactionary regional country [Saudi Arabia] which has been a constant supporter of terrorism”.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that as the Iran legislation moves forward, lawmakers will have an opportunity to offer amendments that would authorize new sanctions on Russian Federation. Several senators had sought a delay in the vote until next week after Wednesday’s terror attacks in Tehran.

Some experts have speculated that recruitment efforts were unsuccessful because of Iran’s relative stability, while conflicting reports indicate that Iran has prevented as many as 1,500 Iranians from joining ISIS, likely through Tehran’s notoriously heavy-handed police measures.

“We are focused on intelligence”-gathering, he said“. It continued, “We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote“. Apart from security and political concerns, the attacks, which marked the first footprint of ISIS in Iran, has stoked some debates on media policies.

“Iranian people reject such US claims of friendship”, Zarif tweeted. If true, it would be the Sunni Muslim extremist group’s first successful attack in Shiite-led Iran, a nation it regards as a leader of apostates. Also, the tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, already elevated by the break in diplomatic ties between the Arab Gulf states and Qatar, an Iranian ally, just escalated even more.

In an extremely worrying development, Isis has claimed Wednesday’s attacks in Tehran.

The “spilled blood of the innocent will not remain unavenged”, the Revolutionary Guard statement said. President Hassan Rouhani said ISIS’s actions would only unite Iran and called for greater worldwide support in tackling militant groups. And by attacking the parliament, they assaulted Iran’s vibrant yet imperfect democracy. He said, “Iran is an active and effective pillar in the fight against terrorists, and they want to damage it”.

Intelligence Minister Alavi said that the terror threats had intensified against the country in the last month and few days during they arrested groups of two, three or individuals every week.

(Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP). Lifting economic penalties saved Iran’s economy, GOP lawmakers added, and allowed the country to funnel more money to terrorist groups. “They are too small to affect the will of the Iranian nation and its officials”.

The violence began in midmorning when assailants with Kalashnikov rifles and explosives stormed the parliament complex where a legislative session had been in progress.

At the same time, gunmen and suicide bombers attacked Khomeini’s mausoleum on Tehran’s south side, killing a security guard, according to state television.

Around half an hour later, an attacker opened fire at the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, injuring several members of the public, Iran’s English-language Press TV said. Reformists, moderates, conservatives and hard-liners are now part of a new “sacred union” against terrorism that will most likely enable the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to reinforce its involvement in Syria and increase support for its local militias.

Iranian authorities said on Thursday five of the attackers were Iranian nationals recruited by Islamic State to carry out the assaults inside the tightly controlled Shia Iran.

Like with the attacks in Tehran, nothing suggests that IS’s new found focus on Iran was inspired by Saudi Arabia.

Saadat says in the aftermath of the attack, it feels different to be Iranian.

Tehran’s stock exchange fell almost 2 percent Thursday after the attacks.