DUBAI, United Arab Emirates –
Iran’s supreme chief and its president tried Thursday to link the nationwide protests roiling the nation to an Islamic State-claimed gun attack on a well-known mosque that killed 15 individuals.
The feedback by (*15*) Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi come as Iran’s theocracy has been unable to comprise the demonstrations, sparked by the dying of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her detention by the nation’s morality police.
The protests, probably the most critical unrest to grip Iran since its 2009 Green Movement demonstrations, have grown to embody anger over Iran’s cratered financial system and its theocracy as effectively.
Over 200 individuals have been killed amid a crackdown in Iran, with hundreds others arrested by police, activists say.
On Wednesday, a gunman opened fireplace on worshippers at Shiraz’s Shah Cheragh mosque, the second-holiest website in Iran. State media mentioned no less than 15 individuals had been killed within the assault, which authorities initially attributed to a number of gunmen.
Footage launched Thursday by authorities confirmed the gunman strolling close to the mosque with a big backpack, then later transferring into the mosque with a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle.
Barefoot worshippers inside try to flee as the person opens fireplace, then hunts these hiding behind no matter they may discover. Blood might be seen on the mosque’s ground.
Riot police later captured the person, who authorities have but to determine.
The Islamic State group late Wednesday claimed duty for the attack on its Amaq information company. It mentioned an armed IS militant stormed the shrine and opened fireplace on its guests.
In a speech Thursday, Raisi described the continuing protests as “riots” that allowed for the capturing in Shiraz. However, there is no such thing as a proof linking extremist teams to the widespread, largely harmonious demonstrations which have been repeatedly focused by a heavy-handed safety pressure crackdown within the nation.
“The enemy desires the riots to pave the way in which for terrorist assaults. The enemy is at all times the enemy,” Raisi contended. “They go to a holy shrine of a son of the prophet, our third-most essential shrine, his majesty Shah Cheragh, and open fireplace at harmless worshipers.”
For his half, 83-year-old Khamenei blamed the attack on a “plot of the enemies.”
“We all have duties to deal a blow to the warmongering enemy and its treacherous and silly cohorts,” Khamenei reportedly mentioned. “All our individuals starting from the safety our bodies and the judiciary physique and activists within the discipline of media should be united towards the wave that disregards and disrespects individuals’s lives, their safety and their sacred issues.”