Condemnations pour in following terror attack in southwestern Iran
Condemnations pour in from both inside and outside the Islamic Republic of Iran following a terrorist attack in the country’s southwestern city of Shiraz that killed and injured scores of people.
“Iran’s Shah Cheragh weltered in blood,” the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani tweeted on Wednesday, referring to the site of the attack, which is a popular Shia shrine in the country’s Fars Province.
The tragedy saw a heavily-armed terrorist storming the shrine at around 5:45 p.m. local time (1415 GMT) earlier in the day, opening indiscriminate fire at pilgrims.
As many as 15 people were martyred and 27 others were wounded. The perpetrator was himself wounded and arrested by security officials.
Iran’s Nour News Agency, which is affiliated with the country’s top security body, identified the assailant as a foreign national.
Kan’ani spurned certain Western countries and their allies’ so-called expression of condemnation and sympathy following the assault for, what he called, their hiding behind “apparently altruistic remarks and hollow claims.”
“Those who pretend to be upholding the human rights were precisely after [witnessing] such scenes of violence and bloodletting of the people of Iran,” he added, saying, “For them, the end justifies the means.”
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi has also vowed that the Islamic Republic would deliver a crushing response to those, who were behind the bloodshed.
“This vicious act will definitely not go unanswered. The country’s security and law enforcement forces, having identified the root causes of this heinous crime, will deliver a decisive response to its architects and operatives,” which will make them regret their act, the president said.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a senior member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, condoled with the survivors of the attack, tweeting, “We are confident that this heinous incident will increase the unity of the Iranian people in the face of the plans of the enemies of Iran.”
Sayyed Ammar al-Hakim, the head of Iraq’s National Wisdom coalition, also decried the attack.
Speaking to reporters in New York, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the world body condemned the attack at the religious site, expressing sympathy with the Iranian people and government.
