Updated 12.01
IRISH PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins has condemned the attack by Islamic State forces on Iran’s parliament which left 13 dead.
13 people were killed and more than 40 wounded in the attacks on Tehran’s parliament complex and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the first claimed by Isis in Iran.
President Higgins this morning sent a message to Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, expressing Ireland’s sympathy with those who died in the attack.
“An attack on parliament must be unequivocally condemned by all those who believe in public discourse and the rights of parliament to improve the lives of citizens through peaceful, democratic means, not violence,” the president said in a statement.
Earlier, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that US President Donald Trump’s reaction to the deadly Islamic State group attacks in Tehran was “repugnant”.
“Repugnant WH (White House) statement… as Iranians counter terror backed by US clients,” Zarif tweeted.
He was responding to Trump’s comment that “states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote”.
Trump has long accused Iran of backing terrorism and has threatened to tear up a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers.
Even as Washington expressed its condolences yesterday, the US Senate advanced legislation that would impose new sanctions on Iran, partly for what the bill described as the Iranian regime’s “support for acts of international terrorism”.
Iranian security officials counter that it is their regional rival Saudi Arabia – a close US ally – that is responsible for funding and spreading the extremism that underpins Isis.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accused Riyadh and Washington of being “involved” in Wednesday’s attacks and vowed revenge.
Trump’s comments also brought criticism from Iranians on social media, who recalled their government’s offers of support and the candlelight vigils held in Iran after the attacks of 11 September 2001.
Additional reporting Cianan Brennan
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