On Wednesday, two groups of armed men stormed the Iranian parliament building in central Tehran and Imam Khomeini Shrine in the southern Tehran outskirt.
There are conflicting reports on the number of casualties but some unofficial sources have announced 9 security forces and civilians dead in parliament shootings.
The assailants armed with two AK-47 and a handgun are still said to be inside the Parliament. It has been reported that a suicide bomber blew himself up in the parliament building.
In the other attack, three gunmen opened fire at the Mausoleum of Imam Khomeini, the founder of Islamic Republic, in southern Tehran wounding a number of people and killing one. According to Ilna, one of the assailants has been arrested, one has killed himself by taking cyanide, and the third detonated her vest. A suicide bomber’s vest found around the mausoleum has also been deactivated.
Security forces have now surrounded the two sites of the terror attacks and the situation is said to be under control, with normal traffic reported in other streets of the city.
Although ISIS has reportedly taken the responsibility of Tehran terror attack, security experts and analysts in Tehran believe the attack are carried out in a way similar to MKO’s former terrorist operations. A security source told Iran’s View that evidences show Saudi Arbia’s intelligence entities directly working along with the MKO agents in carrying out the terror attacks. Jihadi militias controlled by Saudi Arabia have been making connections with the MKO for almost a year now.
Security forces could arrest alive one of the terrorists who attempted to kill herself with cyanide. Unlike Daesh, the MKO typically uses women in carrying out its terrorist operations.
Security observers in Tehran say the terrorists have planned for other attacks as well. Security forces are fully prepared to counter any other possible attack.
Earlier in May Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud, the kingdom’s defense minister talked of his country’s efforts to take the battle inside Iran.
“We know that the aim of the Iranian regime is to reach the focal point of Muslims [Mecca] and we will not wait until the fight is inside Saudi Arabia and we will work so that the battle is on their side, inside Iran, not in Saudi Arabia,”he said.
In 2016 Saudi Prince Turki AlFaisal attended an MKO meeting in Paris, announcing a new round of his country’s cooperation with the terrorist organization. In that meeting a number of western leaders and politicians accompanied Maryam Rajavi, the head of the MKO, including US formal official John Bolton, Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani .
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said Iran must be punished for its interference in the region and support for terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, Al Arabiya News Channel reported him as saying early Wednesday.
Updates:
Following the twin terrorist attacks in the Iranian capital, the country’s Interior Ministry has released a statement giving the details of the deadly incidents.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also will hold his scheduled meeting with the student unions delegations today despite the attacks in Tehran. It is expected he makes his first statements on the attacks in his today speech.
The full text of the statement released by the Iranian Interior Ministry on the Wednesday terrorist attacks on Tehran is as follows:
On Wednesday, two terrorist teams simultaneously tried to conduct blind terrorist acts in the vicinity of the Mausoleum of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, and also in Iran’s Parliament.
The first terrorist team consisted of two people who entered the Imam Khomeini Mausoleum at around 10:30 a.m. One of them blew up her vest and the second was killed in a fire exchange with security forces.
The second team was composed of four people, who concurrently with the first team, tried to enter the administrative building of the Parliament. Facing reaction from the security forces, one of them detonated his vest and the three others were killed in a shoot-out with the police forces while trying to reach the upper floors of the parliament building.
Based on reports, 12 people have been killed and 42 other injured in these two incidents.
At the moment, both events are over and everything is fully under the control of security and military forces. Further news of these events will subsequently be published.
To verify the details and exact dimensions of the two incidents, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council will hold a meeting chaired by the Interior Minister later on Wednesday.
In order to prevent the spread of false news, it is advised that all the media outlets avoid publishing unofficial news.
