TEHRAN, Sept 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Iran summoned diplomats from Denmark,
the Netherlands and Britain over an attack on an army parade which killed at
least 29 people near the Iraqi border, state-run media said on Sunday.
The Dutch and Danish ambassadors and the British charge d’affaires were
“informed of Iran’s strong protests over their respective countries’ hosting
of some members of the terrorist group” which carried out the attack,
official news agency IRNA said.
The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group has claimed responsibility for the
rare assault, which saw gunmen spray a crowd with gunfire in the southwestern
city of Ahvaz on Saturday.
Iranian officials have blamed “a foreign regime” backed by the United
States.
Iran called on Denmark and the Netherlands to extradite the attack’s
“perpetrators and their accomplices” to stand trial in the Middle Eastern
country, IRNA said, citing foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi.
“It is not acceptable that the European Union does not blacklist members of
these terrorist groups as long as they do not perpetrate a crime on…
European soil,” Qasemi was quoted as saying.
The British charge d’affaires, summoned in the ambassador’s absence, was
told it was unacceptable “that the spokesman for the Al-Ahvazi terrorist
group was allowed to claim responsibility of the attack through a London-
based TV network”, according to the news agency.
He was referring to a group Tehran claims is backed by its arch-rival Saudi
Arabia.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has vowed a “crushing” response to the
attack in the province of Khuzestan, which borders Iraq and has a large
ethnic Arab community.
The province has seen separatist violence in the past that Iran has blamed
on its regional rivals.
IS said via its propaganda mouthpiece Amaq that “Islamic State fighters
attacked a gathering of Iranian forces” in Ahvaz.
The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites, reported
that IS said the attack was in response to Iranian involvement in conflicts
across the region.