NewsBite

Gunfire inside Iran’s parliament and at Khomeini mausoleum

IRAN has blamed Saudi Arabia for an IS attack on its parliament after its foreign minister reportedly said the country needed to be punished.

Staff writers
4 min read
June 8, 2017 - 4:55AM
News Corp Australia Network
IRAN: Police Arrive at Khomeini Mausoleum in Tehran After Attack June 07

IRAN has blamed Saudi Arabia for an IS attack on its parliament after its foreign minister reportedly said the country needed to be punished.

The Fars news service said Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir had said that Iran needed to be punished for what he claimed was the country’s support for terrorist organisations just hours before a pair of attacks that killed at least 12 people.

“The assailants entered the parliament in women’s dress and through the special visitors gate, started the shooting spree and entered the area, causing fear and horror,” Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Hossein Zolfaqari said on state-run TV, the Jewish Press reported.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, and posted video from inside the parliament building.

“In the first minutes of the attack, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps forces entered the scene and gained control of the floor and main area of the parliament building,” Zolfaqari said.

Iran’s Health Ministry reports 35 injured have been taken to Tehran hospitals.

Iranian policemen evacuate a child from the parliament building in Tehran. Picture: AFP
Iranian policemen evacuate a child from the parliament building in Tehran. Picture: AFP

Iran’s Tasnim news agency says four hostages were taken in parliament house and Iranian special forces entered the building to end the standoff. It is understood one of the attackers detonated a suicide vest as special forces approached.

Police patrol outside Iran's parliament building after an assault by several attackers that was claimed by the Islamic State group, in Tehran, Iran. Picture: AP
Police patrol outside Iran's parliament building after an assault by several attackers that was claimed by the Islamic State group, in Tehran, Iran. Picture: AP

Attackers at the mausoleum to Tehran’s south appear to have targeted pilgrims, with one detonating a bomb while others opened fire.

An armed man stands in a window of the parliament building in Tehran, Iran. Several attackers stormed into Iran's parliament and a suicide bomber targeted the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Picture: Fars News Agency, Omid Vahabzadeh via AP
An armed man stands in a window of the parliament building in Tehran, Iran. Several attackers stormed into Iran's parliament and a suicide bomber targeted the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Picture: Fars News Agency, Omid Vahabzadeh via AP

TEHRAN PARLIAMENT ATTACK

Fars stated one assailant was detained as he attempted to flee the building. It quotes a senior member of the parliament’s Presiding Board, Akbar Ranjbarzadeh, as saying the gun man was arrested at the parliament’s hallway.

One of the deputies (representatives) reportedly told Fars that the remaining assailants had been trapped in the offices of the deputies.

A floor-by-floor police operation ended with the death of all terrorists, Tasnim reports.

Police officers run to take position around Iran's parliament building after an assault of several attackers, in Tehran, Iran. Picture: Fars News Agency, Ali Khara via AP
Police officers run to take position around Iran's parliament building after an assault of several attackers, in Tehran, Iran. Picture: Fars News Agency, Ali Khara via AP

Photos and video show people - including children - attempting to escape via the building’s windows as attackers took shots at police, bystanders and media.

An Associated Press reporter saw several police snipers on the rooftops of buildings around the parliament. Shops in the area were shuttered, and gunfire could be heard.

Witnesses said the attackers had been shooting from the fourth floor of the parliament building down at people in the streets below.

Policemen deploying in the main hall of Iranian parliament to protect politicians during the attack which targeted the complex. Picture: AFP
Policemen deploying in the main hall of Iranian parliament to protect politicians during the attack which targeted the complex. Picture: AFP

“I was passing by one of the streets. I thought that children were playing with fireworks, but I realised people are hiding and lying down on the streets,” Ebrahim Ghanimi, who was around the parliament building when the assailants stormed in, told The Associated Press.

Police helicopters circled over the parliament building and all mobile phone lines from inside were disconnected.

The semi-official ISNA news agency said all entrance and exit gates at parliament had been closed and that lawmakers and reporters were ordered to remain in place inside the chamber.

All restrictions have now been lifted.

A police helicopter flying around outside the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran. Picture: AFP
A police helicopter flying around outside the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran. Picture: AFP
An image posted by Iranian media capturing the moment a suicide bomb detonates at the Ayatollah Khomeini shrine outside Tehran. Picture: Twitter/JamaranNews
An image posted by Iranian media capturing the moment a suicide bomb detonates at the Ayatollah Khomeini shrine outside Tehran. Picture: Twitter/JamaranNews

AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI MAUSOLEUM

A second, simultaneous attack was made one of Iran’s cultural icons, the mausoleum of founder Ayatollah Khomeini. Initial reports suggest one was a female suicide bomber.

Fars news agency states there were about four attackers at the shrine, with three shooting into the crowd of pilgrims gathered there as the third blew herself up outside a police facility.

Tasnim news agency reports the terrorists stormed the mausoleum through its western gate.

At least two were killed and 10 injured in the attack.

Unconfirmed reports state one of the remaining attackers suicided and another two have been arrested.

Fars reports a second suicide vest was defused at the shrine.

In addition to being lethal, the attack on the shrine of Khomeini is symbolically stunning. As Iran’s first Supreme Leader, Khomeini is a towering figure in the country and was its revolutionary leader in the 1979 ouster of the shah.

An Associated Press reporter saw security forces, some uniformed and others in plainclothes, around the large and ornate shrine located just outside the capital.

The Fars news agency reports the director general of Iran’s intelligence ministry and anti-terrorism operations unit as saying the members of a third terrorist team had been arrested in Tehran before they had been able to launch their attack.

An image grab taken from AFPTV shows the scene outside Iranian parliament in the capital Tehran during an attack on the complex. Picture: AFP / AFPTV / Majid SOURATI
An image grab taken from AFPTV shows the scene outside Iranian parliament in the capital Tehran during an attack on the complex. Picture: AFP / AFPTV / Majid SOURATI

Iran’s relatively moderate government - led by Hassan Rouhani - took control after elections in 2013 with a clear majority. He embarked upon a diplomatic campaign to improve relations with the West, restarting international dialogue over his nation’s nuclear weapons program.

Fresh elections were held in May, and Rouhani was elected to a second term amid allegations of foreign interference.

But internal political divisions remain strong, with Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opposing many of Rouhani’s moderate policies.

This Friday, May 26, 2017 photo, shows an aerial view of part of the capital Tehran. Picture: AP / Ebrahim Noroozi
This Friday, May 26, 2017 photo, shows an aerial view of part of the capital Tehran. Picture: AP / Ebrahim Noroozi

TIME OF TURMOIL

Relations with Iran recently sustained setbacks with US President Donald Trump adopting a hard line and abandoning negotiations..

The shootings comes amid renewed pressure on Iran’s nuclear program and charges of backing international terror.

Qatar, which follows the same Shia sect of Islam as Iran, this week became the focus of international sanctions for alleged financial support of terrorist organisations.

Earlier this week, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said attacks by the Islamic State group in Europe and elsewhere show that Western policies in the Middle East have backfired.

“Today, Daesh (Islamic State) is being pushed out from its birthplace in Iraq and Syria and is moving to other countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan and even the Philippines and European countries,” Khamenei said in a televised speech.

“This is a fire that (Western powers) themselves ignited and now has backfired on them,” he told a gathering of senior officials in Tehran at a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the death of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

INTERNAL DISSENT

Khamenei used the speech to push back against some of the reformist rhetoric used by President Hassan Rouhani during his successful bid for re-election last month.

Rouhani called his conservative opponents “extremists” and promised greater civil liberties and more dialogue with the West.

“Do not dismiss revolutionary behaviour as extremism. Being revolutionary is the need of the country today,” Khamenei said.

Police officers patrol Iran's parliament building after an assault by several attackers that was claimed by the Islamic State group, in Tehran, Iran. Picture: AP
Police officers patrol Iran's parliament building after an assault by several attackers that was claimed by the Islamic State group, in Tehran, Iran. Picture: AP

“Rationality means not coming under the dominance of the power of America and its arrogance again, once one has freed oneself from it.”

He said Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia had demonstrated the high price exacted from countries siding with the United States, highlighting the billion-dollar purchases agreed during President Donald Trump’s May visit to Riyadh.

“In order to compromise with the new US president, the Saudi government is forced to spend more than half of its financial resources in line with America’s objectives and in accordance to America’s will,” Khamenei said.

Originally published as Gunfire inside Iran’s parliament and at Khomeini mausoleum

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

More related stories
Grave escalation the world feared
World

Grave escalation the world feared

The deployment of Kim Jong-un’s troops has added fuel to the growing fire in recent weeks. Now there are claims Vladimir Putin has put them to use.

Read more

Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/world/gunfire-inside-irans-parliament/news-story/f63b85c662e03305a92bc079a2a1bdf8