Zarif: Iran Vows «Swift, Decisive» Response to Terror Attack

Local Editor

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran will respond “swiftly and decisively” in defense of its people, shortly after a terror attack claimed at least 10 lives in southern Iran.

“Terrorists recruited, trained, armed, and paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz. Children and journos [are] among casualties,” Zarif tweeted on Saturday.

Iran holds “regional terror sponsors” and their “US masters” responsible for the attack, he said.

At least 10 were martyred when gunmen opened fire on people from behind a viewing stand at Qods Boulevard of Ahvaz during the morning parade held to mark the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's invasion of Iran in the 1980s.

"Individuals disguised in the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and Basij uniforms fired at officials and people from behind the stand, leaving a number of innocent people including women and children martyred or injured," Governor of Khuzestan Province Gholamreza Shariati said.

"So far, the martyrdom of three people has been verified in this subversive and anti-security action, with more than 20 other injured who were transferred to hospital," he told the official IRNA news agency.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) spokesman Ramezan Sharif said the attackers were affiliated to a terrorist group supported by Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, the IRGC’s former top naval commander and the Corps’ current deputy coordinator, also reacted to the attack.

“This issue (the terrorist attack in Ahvaz) is not indicative of strength and power, but shows lowliness,” he said. He called the massacre a “sequel to the actions in Syria and Iraq by [the Takfiri terror group of] Daesh, which martyrs innocent people, who are neither in a defensive position nor in a military one.”

“We took down the grand design and the intrigue that was called Daesh,” he added, saying the enemy has a hard time accepting this.

Fadavi was referring to Iran’s support for Syria and Iraq in their battle against the terrorists, who were defeated by the Arab countries late last year.

Source: News Agencies, edited by website team