The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran accused Saudi Arabia of being behind the twin-attack against the country’s parliament and the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran, Wednesday, which killed 12 people and injured several.
“This terrorist attack happened only a week after the meeting between the U.S. president (Donald Trump) and the (Saudi) backward leaders who support terrorists. The fact that Islamic State has claimed responsibility proves that they were involved in the brutal attack,” a Guards statement said.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir, speaking in Berlin, said he did not know who was responsible and there was no evidence Saudi extremists were involved.
Attackers dressed as women burst through parliament’s main entrance in central Tehran, deputy interior minister Mohammad Hossein Zolfaghari said, according to the Tasnim news agency.
One of them detonated a suicide vest in the parliament, he said. About five hours later, Iranian media said four people who had attacked parliament were dead and the incident was over.
At least 12 people were killed by the attackers, the head of Iran’s emergency department, Pir-Hossein Kolivand, was quoted as saying by state broadcaster IRIB. Some 43 people were wounded. Meanwhile, Turkey is sending troops to a base in Qatar, which has been accused of Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf states, including Egypt of supporting ISIS and Islamic extremism.