An attack on a military parade in the southern Iranian city of Ahwaz is likely to prompt Iranian retaliation against opposition groups at home and abroad. It also deepens Iranian fears that the United States, Saudi Arabia and others may seek to destabilise the country by instigating unrest among its ethnic minorities.

With competing claims of responsibility by the Islamic State and the Ahvaz National Resistance for the attack that killed 29 people and wounded 70 others in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, which borders on Iraq and is home to Iran’s ethnic Arab community, it is hard to determine with certainty the affiliation of the four perpetrators, all of whom were killed in the incident.

Statements by Iranian officials, however, accusing the United States and its allies, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, suggest that they see the Ahvaz group rather than the Islamic State as responsible for the incident, the worst since the Islamic State attacked the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran in 2017.

Iran’s summoning, in the wake of the attack, of the ambassadors of Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark, countries from which Iranian opposition groups operate, comes at an awkward moment for Tehran.

It complicates Iranian efforts to ensure that European measures effectively neutralise potentially crippling US sanctions that are being imposed as a result of the US withdrawal in May from the 2015 international agreement that curbed the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.

Ahvaz-related violence last year spilled on to the street of the Hague when unidentified gunmen killed Ahwazi activist Ahmad Mola Nissi. He was shot dead days before he was scheduled to launch a Saudi-funded television station staffed with Saudi-trained personnel that would target Khuzestan, according to Ahvazi activists.

This week, a group of exile Iranian academics and political activists, led by the Hague-based social scientist Damon Golriz, announced the creation of a group that intends to campaign for a liberal democracy in Iran under the auspices of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted Shah of Iran who lives in the United States.

While Iran appears to be targeting exile groups in the wake of the Ahvaz attack, Iran itself has witnessed in recent years stepped up activity by various insurgent groups amid indications of Saudi support, leading to repeated clashes and interception of Kurdish, Baloch and other ethnic insurgents.

Last month, Azeri and Iranian Arab protests erupted in soccer stadiums while the country’s Revolutionary Guards Corps reported clashes with Iraq-based Iranian Kurdish insurgents.

State-run television warned at the time in a primetime broadcast that foreign agents could turn legitimate protests stemming from domestic anger at the government’s mismanagement of the economy and corruption into “incendiary calls for regime change” by inciting violence that would provoke a crackdown by security forces and give the United States fodder to tackle Iran.

The People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran or Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK), a controversial exiled opposition group that enjoys the support of serving and former Western officials, including some in the Trump administration, as well as prominent Saudis such as Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief, who is believed to be close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has taken credit for a number of the protests in Khuzestan.

The incidents fit an emerging pattern, prompting suggestions that if a Gulf-backed group was responsible for this weekend’s attack, it may have been designed to provoke a more direct confrontation between Iran and the United States.

“If the terrorist attack in Ahvaz was part of a larger Saudi and UAE escalation in Iran, their goal is likely to goad Iran to retaliate and then use Tehran’s reaction to spark a larger war and force the US to enter since Riyadh and Abu Dhabi likely cannot take on Iran militarily alone… If so, the terrorist attack is as much about trapping Iran into war as it is to trap the US into a war of choice,” said Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council.

Iran appears with its response to the Ahvaz attack to be saying that its fears of US and Saudi destabilisation efforts are becoming reality. The Iranian view is not wholly unfounded.

Speaking in a private capacity on the same day as the attack in Ahvaz, US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, declared that US sanctions were causing economic pain that could lead to a “successful revolution” in Iran.

&nbsp;“I don’t know when we’re going to overthrow them. It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years. But it’s going to happen,” Giuliani told an audience gathered in New York for an Iran Uprising Summit organised by the Organisation of Iranian-American Communities, a Washington-based group associated with the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.

Giuliani is together with John Bolton, Trump’s national security advisor, a long-standing supporter of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq that calls for the violent overthrow of the Iranian regime.

Bolton, last year before assuming office, drafted at the request of Trump’s then strategic advisor, Steve Bannon, a plan that envisioned US support “for the democratic Iranian opposition,” “Kurdish national aspirations in Iran, Iraq and Syria,” and assistance for Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan and Baloch in the Pakistani province of Balochistan and Iran’s neighbouring Sistan and Balochistan province.

The Trump administration has officially shied away from formally endorsing the goal of toppling the regime in Tehran. Bolton, since becoming national security advisor, has insisted that US policy was to put "unprecedented pressure" on Iran to change its behaviour”, not its regime.

Messrs. Bolton and Giuliani’s inclination towards regime change is, however, shared by several US allies in the Middle East, and circumstantial evidence suggests that their views may be seeping into US policy moves without it being officially acknowledged.

Moreover, Saudi support for a confrontation with Iran precedes Trump’s coming to office but has intensified since, in part as a result of King Salman’s ascendance to the Saudi throne in 2015 and the rise of his son, Prince Mohammed.

Already a decade ago, Saudi Arabia’s then King Abdullah urged the United States to “cut off the head of the snake” by launching military strikes to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.

Writing in 2012 in Asharq Al Awsat, a Saudi newspaper, Amal Al-Hazzani, an academic, asserted in an op-ed entitled “The oppressed Arab district of al-Ahwaz“ that Khuzestan “is an Arab territory... Its Arab residents have been facing continual repression ever since the Persian state assumed control of the region in 1925... It is imperative that the Arabs take up the al-Ahwaz cause, at least from the humanitarian perspective.”

More recently, Prince Mohammed vowed that “we won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia. Instead, we will work so that the battle is for them in Iran.”

Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent UAE scholar, who is believed to be close to Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, played into Iranian assertions of Gulf involvement in this weekend’s attack by tweeting that it wasn’t a terrorist incident.

Abdulla suggested that “moving the battle to the Iranian side is a declared option” and that the number of such attacks “will increase during the next phase”.

A Saudi think tank, believed to be backed by Prince Mohammed last year called in a study for Saudi support for a low-level Baloch insurgency in Iran. Prince Mohammed vowed around the same time that “we will work so that the battle is for them in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia.”

Pakistani militants have claimed that Saudi Arabia has stepped up funding of militant madrassas or religious seminaries in Balochistan that allegedly serves as havens for anti-Iranian fighters.

The head of the US State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs, Steven Fagin, met in Washington in June with Mustafa Hijri, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), before assuming his new post as counsel general in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The KDPI has recently stepped up its attacks in Iranian Kurdistan, killing nine people weeks before Mr. Hijri’s meeting with Mr. Fagin. Other Kurdish groups have reported similar attacks. Several Iranian Kurdish groups are discussing ways to coordinate efforts to confront the Iranian regime.

Similarly, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) last year appointed a seasoned covert operations officer as head of its Iran operations.

Said Saudi Ambassador to the United States Prince Khalid bin Salman, Prince Mohammed’s brother: President “Trump makes clear that we will not approach Iran with the sort of appeasement policies that failed so miserably to halt Nazi Germany’s rise to power, or avert the costliest war ever waged.” 
​​​​​​ 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

An attack on a military parade in the southern Iranian city of Ahwaz is likely to prompt Iranian retaliation against opposition groups at home and abroad. It also deepens Iranian fears that the United States, Saudi Arabia and others may seek to destabilise the country by instigating unrest among its ethnic minorities.

An attack on a military parade in the southern Iranian city of Ahwaz is likely to prompt Iranian retaliation against opposition groups at home and abroad. It also deepens Iranian fears that the United States, Saudi Arabia and others may seek to destabilise the country by instigating unrest among its ethnic minorities. With competing claims of responsibility by the Islamic State and the Ahvaz National Resistance for the attack that killed 29 people and wounded 70 others in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, which borders on Iraq and is home to Iran’s ethnic Arab community, it is hard to determine with certainty the affiliation of the four perpetrators, all of whom were killed in the incident. Statements by Iranian officials, however, accusing the United States and its allies, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, suggest that they see the Ahvaz group rather than the Islamic State as responsible for the incident, the worst since the Islamic State attacked the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran in 2017. Iran’s summoning, in the wake of the attack, of the ambassadors of Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark, countries from which Iranian opposition groups operate, comes at an awkward moment for Tehran. It complicates Iranian efforts to ensure that European measures effectively neutralise potentially crippling US sanctions that are being imposed as a result of the US withdrawal in May from the 2015 international agreement that curbed the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme. Ahvaz-related violence last year spilled on to the street of the Hague when unidentified gunmen killed Ahwazi activist Ahmad Mola Nissi. He was shot dead days before he was scheduled to launch a Saudi-funded television station staffed with Saudi-trained personnel that would target Khuzestan, according to Ahvazi activists. This week, a group of exile Iranian academics and political activists, led by the Hague-based social scientist Damon Golriz, announced the creation of a group that intends to campaign for a liberal democracy in Iran under the auspices of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted Shah of Iran who lives in the United States. While Iran appears to be targeting exile groups in the wake of the Ahvaz attack, Iran itself has witnessed in recent years stepped up activity by various insurgent groups amid indications of Saudi support, leading to repeated clashes and interception of Kurdish, Baloch and other ethnic insurgents. Last month, Azeri and Iranian Arab protests erupted in soccer stadiums while the country’s Revolutionary Guards Corps reported clashes with Iraq-based Iranian Kurdish insurgents. State-run television warned at the time in a primetime broadcast that foreign agents could turn legitimate protests stemming from domestic anger at the government’s mismanagement of the economy and corruption into “incendiary calls for regime change” by inciting violence that would provoke a crackdown by security forces and give the United States fodder to tackle Iran. The People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran or Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK), a controversial exiled opposition group that enjoys the support of serving and former Western officials, including some in the Trump administration, as well as prominent Saudis such as Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief, who is believed to be close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has taken credit for a number of the protests in Khuzestan. The incidents fit an emerging pattern, prompting suggestions that if a Gulf-backed group was responsible for this weekend’s attack, it may have been designed to provoke a more direct confrontation between Iran and the United States. “If the terrorist attack in Ahvaz was part of a larger Saudi and UAE escalation in Iran, their goal is likely to goad Iran to retaliate and then use Tehran’s reaction to spark a larger war and force the US to enter since Riyadh and Abu Dhabi likely cannot take on Iran militarily alone… If so, the terrorist attack is as much about trapping Iran into war as it is to trap the US into a war of choice,” said Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council. Iran appears with its response to the Ahvaz attack to be saying that its fears of US and Saudi destabilisation efforts are becoming reality. The Iranian view is not wholly unfounded. Speaking in a private capacity on the same day as the attack in Ahvaz, US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, declared that US sanctions were causing economic pain that could lead to a “successful revolution” in Iran. “I don’t know when we’re going to overthrow them. It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years. But it’s going to happen,” Giuliani told an audience gathered in New York for an Iran Uprising Summit organised by the Organisation of Iranian-American Communities, a Washington-based group associated with the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. Giuliani is together with John Bolton, Trump’s national security advisor, a long-standing supporter of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq that calls for the violent overthrow of the Iranian regime. Bolton, last year before assuming office, drafted at the request of Trump’s then strategic advisor, Steve Bannon, a plan that envisioned US support “for the democratic Iranian opposition,” “Kurdish national aspirations in Iran, Iraq and Syria,” and assistance for Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan and Baloch in the Pakistani province of Balochistan and Iran’s neighbouring Sistan and Balochistan province. The Trump administration has officially shied away from formally endorsing the goal of toppling the regime in Tehran. Bolton, since becoming national security advisor, has insisted that US policy was to put "unprecedented pressure" on Iran to change its behaviour”, not its regime. Messrs. Bolton and Giuliani’s inclination towards regime change is, however, shared by several US allies in the Middle East, and circumstantial evidence suggests that their views may be seeping into US policy moves without it being officially acknowledged. Moreover, Saudi support for a confrontation with Iran precedes Trump’s coming to office but has intensified since, in part as a result of King Salman’s ascendance to the Saudi throne in 2015 and the rise of his son, Prince Mohammed. Already a decade ago, Saudi Arabia’s then King Abdullah urged the United States to “cut off the head of the snake” by launching military strikes to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. Writing in 2012 in Asharq Al Awsat, a Saudi newspaper, Amal Al-Hazzani, an academic, asserted in an op-ed entitled “The oppressed Arab district of al-Ahwaz“ that Khuzestan “is an Arab territory... Its Arab residents have been facing continual repression ever since the Persian state assumed control of the region in 1925... It is imperative that the Arabs take up the al-Ahwaz cause, at least from the humanitarian perspective.” More recently, Prince Mohammed vowed that “we won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia. Instead, we will work so that the battle is for them in Iran.” Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent UAE scholar, who is believed to be close to Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, played into Iranian assertions of Gulf involvement in this weekend’s attack by tweeting that it wasn’t a terrorist incident. Abdulla suggested that “moving the battle to the Iranian side is a declared option” and that the number of such attacks “will increase during the next phase”. A Saudi think tank, believed to be backed by Prince Mohammed last year called in a study for Saudi support for a low-level Baloch insurgency in Iran. Prince Mohammed vowed around the same time that “we will work so that the battle is for them in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia.” Pakistani militants have claimed that Saudi Arabia has stepped up funding of militant madrassas or religious seminaries in Balochistan that allegedly serves as havens for anti-Iranian fighters. The head of the US State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs, Steven Fagin, met in Washington in June with Mustafa Hijri, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), before assuming his new post as counsel general in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. The KDPI has recently stepped up its attacks in Iranian Kurdistan, killing nine people weeks before Mr. Hijri’s meeting with Mr. Fagin. Other Kurdish groups have reported similar attacks. Several Iranian Kurdish groups are discussing ways to coordinate efforts to confront the Iranian regime. Similarly, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) last year appointed a seasoned covert operations officer as head of its Iran operations. Said Saudi Ambassador to the United States Prince Khalid bin Salman, Prince Mohammed’s brother: President “Trump makes clear that we will not approach Iran with the sort of appeasement policies that failed so miserably to halt Nazi Germany’s rise to power, or avert the costliest war ever waged.” (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Opinion: Attack in Iran raises spectre of a far larger conflagration

A female journalist created a history in Saudi Arabia as she became the first woman to anchor the main news bulletin on country's state-run TV channel.

Weam Al Dakheel co-presented Al Saudiya's 9:30 pm news bulletin on Thursday along with her other male colleague.

People on Twitter praised her appearance on prime time slot on national television and said that it marks a milestone in the deeply conservative kingdom.&nbsp;

Before Al Saudiya, AI Dakheel was a reporter at CNBC Arabia. She has also worked as a presenter for the Bahrain-based AI Arab news channel.

AL Saudiya is a state-run channel and is administered by the Ministry of Culture and Information.

Dakheel's appearance came amid the various reforms taking place in the kingdom under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's "Vision 2030".

In June Saudi Arabia in historic reofrm,<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/in-historic-reform-saudi-women-driving-ban-officially-ends-146609"> allowed women to drive</a>, ending the world's only ban on female motorists.

The move is expected to boost women's employment, and according to a Bloomberg estimate, add $90 billion to economic output by 2030.

He also lifted a ban on cinemas and mixed-gender concerts, following his public vow to return the kingdom to moderate Islam.

A female journalist created a history in Saudi Arabia as she became the first woman to anchor the main news bulletin on country's state-run TV channel. Weam Al Dakheel co-presented Al Saudiya's 9:30 pm news bulletin on Thursday along with her other male colleague.

A female journalist created a history in Saudi Arabia as she became the first woman to anchor the main news bulletin on country's state-run TV channel. Weam Al Dakheel co-presented Al Saudiya's 9:30 pm news bulletin on Thursday along with her other male colleague. People on Twitter praised her appearance on prime time slot on national television and said that it marks a milestone in the deeply conservative kingdom. Before Al Saudiya, AI Dakheel was a reporter at CNBC Arabia. She has also worked as a presenter for the Bahrain-based AI Arab news channel. AL Saudiya is a state-run channel and is administered by the Ministry of Culture and Information. Dakheel's appearance came amid the various reforms taking place in the kingdom under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's "Vision 2030". In June Saudi Arabia in historic reofrm, allowed women to drive, ending the world's only ban on female motorists. The move is expected to boost women's employment, and according to a Bloomberg estimate, add $90 billion to economic output by 2030. He also lifted a ban on cinemas and mixed-gender concerts, following his public vow to return the kingdom to moderate Islam.

In first, female anchor presents evening newscast in Saudi

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of carrying out a shooting attack on a military parade that killed 25 people, almost half of them members of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Khamenei ordered security forces to bring to justice those responsible for one of the worst assaults ever against the Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful military force in the country, which answers to him.

The allegation will likely ratchet up tensions with Iran's rival Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, which along with the United States have been working to isolate the Islamic Republic.

"This crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the United States, and their goal is to create insecurity in our dear country," Khamenei said in a statement published on his website.

He did not name the regional states he believed were to blame. Israel is also a key US ally opposed to Tehran.

An Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance, which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamic State militants also claimed responsibility. Neither claim provided evidence. All four attackers were killed.

The assault, which wounded at least 70 people, targeted a viewing stand where Iranian officials had gathered in the city of Ahvaz to watch an annual event marking the start of the Islamic Republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq, state television said.

Iran has been relatively stable compared with neighbouring Arab countries that have grappled with upheaval since the 2011 uprisings across the Middle East.

Women and children died in the assault, state news IRNA agency reported.

The assailants had hidden weapons near the parade route several days in advance, said Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesman for Iran's armed forces.

"All four terrorists were quickly neutralised by security forces," Shekarchi told state television. "A four-year-old girl and a wheelchair-bound war veteran were among the dead."

Attacks on the military are rare in Iran.

Iran summoned the envoys of the Netherlands, Denmark and Britain on Saturday night over the shooting, accusing them of harbouring Iranian opposition groups in their countries. Some members of the ethnic separatist movements are based in the European countries.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said Iran "asked their governments to condemn the attack and extradite people linked to it to Iran to be put on trial."

"It is not acceptable that these groups are not listed as terrorist organizations by the European Union as long as they have not carried out a terrorist attack in Europe," Qasemi was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency.

POWERFUL FORCE

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) has been the sword and shield of Shi'ite clerical rule in Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Guards have a big say in Iran's regional interests and a vast stake worth billions of dollars in Iran's economy.

A video distributed to Iranian media showed soldiers crawling to escape gunfire. One picked up a gun and scrambled to his feet as women and children fled for their lives.

State television's website featured a video showing confused soldiers. Standing in front of the stand, one asked: "Where did they come from?" Another responded: "From behind us."

Ahvaz is in the centre of Khuzestan province, where there have been sporadic protests by minority Arabs.

The gunmen were trained by two Gulf Arab states and had ties to the United States and Israel, according to Shekarchi.

There was no immediate Gulf Arab comment on his remarks.

Fars news agency quoted a local Iranian official as saying that Monday would be declared a national day of mourning.

REGIONAL TENSIONS

Iran and Saudi Arabia support opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon, fuelling instability in the Middle East.

The attack occurred a day before Iranian President Hassan Rouhani heads to New York to address the annual United Nations General Assembly next week.

On his Instagram account, Rouhani said: "Those who are supporting these terrorists will be held responsible."

Iranian analysts said the attack may benefit the Guards.

"Rouhani will use the terrorist attack to justify Iran's presence in the Middle East ... The attack will strengthen the IRGC's position inside Iran and in the region," Tehran-based political analyst Hamid Farahvashian said.

Iran faces pressure to swiftly respond to the high-profile attack, which has hurt the security establishment's prestige.

"The attacks are doubtlessly meant to tarnish the prestige of the IRGC, but I believe the terrorist incidents will strengthen the IRGC's standing and even mobilise some public support," said Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow at the Gulf Arab States Institute in Washington.

Hardliners like the IRGC have gained standing at the expense of pragmatists in Iran's multi-tiered leadership since President Donald Trump decided in May to pull the United States out of the 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran and re-impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

"The United States stands with the Iranian people and encourages the regime in Tehran to focus on keeping them safe at home," said National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis.

Egypt, a key ally of Saudi Arabia, also condemned the attack.

Kurdish militants killed 10 Revolutionary Guards in an attack on an IRGC post on the Iraqi border in July.

Last year, in the first deadly assault claimed by Islamic State in Tehran, 18 people were killed at the parliament and mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of carrying out a shooting attack on a military parade that killed 25 people, almost half of them members of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of carrying out a shooting attack on a military parade that killed 25 people, almost half of them members of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards. Khamenei ordered security forces to bring to justice those responsible for one of the worst assaults ever against the Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful military force in the country, which answers to him. The allegation will likely ratchet up tensions with Iran's rival Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, which along with the United States have been working to isolate the Islamic Republic. "This crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the United States, and their goal is to create insecurity in our dear country," Khamenei said in a statement published on his website. He did not name the regional states he believed were to blame. Israel is also a key US ally opposed to Tehran. An Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance, which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack. Islamic State militants also claimed responsibility. Neither claim provided evidence. All four attackers were killed. The assault, which wounded at least 70 people, targeted a viewing stand where Iranian officials had gathered in the city of Ahvaz to watch an annual event marking the start of the Islamic Republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq, state television said. Iran has been relatively stable compared with neighbouring Arab countries that have grappled with upheaval since the 2011 uprisings across the Middle East. Women and children died in the assault, state news IRNA agency reported. The assailants had hidden weapons near the parade route several days in advance, said Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesman for Iran's armed forces. "All four terrorists were quickly neutralised by security forces," Shekarchi told state television. "A four-year-old girl and a wheelchair-bound war veteran were among the dead." Attacks on the military are rare in Iran. Iran summoned the envoys of the Netherlands, Denmark and Britain on Saturday night over the shooting, accusing them of harbouring Iranian opposition groups in their countries. Some members of the ethnic separatist movements are based in the European countries. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said Iran "asked their governments to condemn the attack and extradite people linked to it to Iran to be put on trial." "It is not acceptable that these groups are not listed as terrorist organizations by the European Union as long as they have not carried out a terrorist attack in Europe," Qasemi was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency. POWERFUL FORCE The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) has been the sword and shield of Shi'ite clerical rule in Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Guards have a big say in Iran's regional interests and a vast stake worth billions of dollars in Iran's economy. A video distributed to Iranian media showed soldiers crawling to escape gunfire. One picked up a gun and scrambled to his feet as women and children fled for their lives. State television's website featured a video showing confused soldiers. Standing in front of the stand, one asked: "Where did they come from?" Another responded: "From behind us." Ahvaz is in the centre of Khuzestan province, where there have been sporadic protests by minority Arabs. The gunmen were trained by two Gulf Arab states and had ties to the United States and Israel, according to Shekarchi. There was no immediate Gulf Arab comment on his remarks. Fars news agency quoted a local Iranian official as saying that Monday would be declared a national day of mourning. REGIONAL TENSIONS Iran and Saudi Arabia support opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon, fuelling instability in the Middle East. The attack occurred a day before Iranian President Hassan Rouhani heads to New York to address the annual United Nations General Assembly next week. On his Instagram account, Rouhani said: "Those who are supporting these terrorists will be held responsible." Iranian analysts said the attack may benefit the Guards. "Rouhani will use the terrorist attack to justify Iran's presence in the Middle East ... The attack will strengthen the IRGC's position inside Iran and in the region," Tehran-based political analyst Hamid Farahvashian said. Iran faces pressure to swiftly respond to the high-profile attack, which has hurt the security establishment's prestige. "The attacks are doubtlessly meant to tarnish the prestige of the IRGC, but I believe the terrorist incidents will strengthen the IRGC's standing and even mobilise some public support," said Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow at the Gulf Arab States Institute in Washington. Hardliners like the IRGC have gained standing at the expense of pragmatists in Iran's multi-tiered leadership since President Donald Trump decided in May to pull the United States out of the 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran and re-impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic. "The United States stands with the Iranian people and encourages the regime in Tehran to focus on keeping them safe at home," said National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis. Egypt, a key ally of Saudi Arabia, also condemned the attack. Kurdish militants killed 10 Revolutionary Guards in an attack on an IRGC post on the Iraqi border in July. Last year, in the first deadly assault claimed by Islamic State in Tehran, 18 people were killed at the parliament and mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic.

Iran's Khamenei accuses US-backed Gulf Arab states of carrying out attack on military parade

There was no "deal" between the governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for the release of jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members after a top court suspended their sentences in a corruption case, a senior Pakistani minister has asserted.

The Islamabad High Court Wednesday suspended the jail sentences of Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar in the Avenfield corruption case and they were released from the Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi.

"No country asked for his release. Nawaz Sharif is not so important for Saudi Arabia that they will talk about him," Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said, rejecting the impression that the three-time former premier and his family members were released from jail under a "deal" between 
Imran Khan-led government and Riyadh.&nbsp;

The Islamabad High Court's verdict, ordering the release of the trio coincided with Prime Minister Khan's visit to Saudi Arabia, giving rise to speculation that the Sharif family members' release was a result of the Saudis' request, the Dawn newspaper reported.

But the report recalled that Saudi Arabia was a guarantor in a deal between the Sharif family and then military dictator General Pervez Musharraf in 2000 under which the Sharifs were released from jail and allowed to leave the country.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy close relations and whenever a leader wins an election in Pakistan, the first visit is always to the Gulf nation.

Nawaz Sharif never came under discussion during Prime Minister Khan's visit to Saudi Arabia where he had meetings with the oil-rich kingdom's rulers, Chaudhry said.

"He is not that important to be discussed during that visit," he claimed. 
"Those who say that Saudi Arabia would have talked [about Sharif during Prime Minister Khan's visit] actually don't know what kind of relationship the Saudis have with Nawaz Sharif," the minister said Thursday without elaborating.

"There will be no deal and no dheel (concession) with them (the Sharifs)," Chaudhry declared, adding that soon "they will be back to the place where they had been a few days back".&nbsp;

On July 6, an accountability court in Islamabad sentenced Sharif, Maryam and Safdar, to 10 years, seven years and one year in jail, respectively, in connection with the purchase of four luxury flats in London through corrupt practices.

"Nawaz Sharif will be in and out of jail. This thing will continue," he said, adding that the Sharifs had only been granted bail and the case was still pending against them.

"Those who were questioning the government for putting the names of the Sharifs on the Exit Control List (ECL) would have got the answer now.&nbsp;

"Had we not done so, they could have flown to London soon after their release, and where would we have looked for these princes then?" the minister said, justifying the decision of the Cabinet to place the names of the Sharifs on the ECL during its first meeting last month.

"We will not allow Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz to leave Pakistan and at the same time we will not allow (former finance minister) Ishaq Dar, and Hassan and Hussain (the two sons of Sharif) to stay out of Pakistan," he said.

Chaudhry said that for them it was not important that how much time the Sharifs would spend in jail, as for the government bringing back the looted money of the people of this country was more important.

Sharif, 68, resigned as Pakistan prime minister last year after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding public office and ruled that graft cases be filed against the beleaguered leader and his children over the Panama Papers scandal.

The Avenfield case was among the three corruption cases filed against the ex-premier by the National Accountability Bureau on the Supreme Court's orders in the Panama Papers case.

There was no "deal" between the governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for the release of jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members after a top court suspended their sentences in a corruption case, a senior Pakistani minister has asserted.

There was no "deal" between the governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for the release of jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members after a top court suspended their sentences in a corruption case, a senior Pakistani minister has asserted. The Islamabad High Court Wednesday suspended the jail sentences of Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar in the Avenfield corruption case and they were released from the Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi. "No country asked for his release. Nawaz Sharif is not so important for Saudi Arabia that they will talk about him," Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said, rejecting the impression that the three-time former premier and his family members were released from jail under a "deal" between Imran Khan-led government and Riyadh. The Islamabad High Court's verdict, ordering the release of the trio coincided with Prime Minister Khan's visit to Saudi Arabia, giving rise to speculation that the Sharif family members' release was a result of the Saudis' request, the Dawn newspaper reported. But the report recalled that Saudi Arabia was a guarantor in a deal between the Sharif family and then military dictator General Pervez Musharraf in 2000 under which the Sharifs were released from jail and allowed to leave the country. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy close relations and whenever a leader wins an election in Pakistan, the first visit is always to the Gulf nation. Nawaz Sharif never came under discussion during Prime Minister Khan's visit to Saudi Arabia where he had meetings with the oil-rich kingdom's rulers, Chaudhry said. "He is not that important to be discussed during that visit," he claimed. "Those who say that Saudi Arabia would have talked [about Sharif during Prime Minister Khan's visit] actually don't know what kind of relationship the Saudis have with Nawaz Sharif," the minister said Thursday without elaborating. "There will be no deal and no dheel (concession) with them (the Sharifs)," Chaudhry declared, adding that soon "they will be back to the place where they had been a few days back". On July 6, an accountability court in Islamabad sentenced Sharif, Maryam and Safdar, to 10 years, seven years and one year in jail, respectively, in connection with the purchase of four luxury flats in London through corrupt practices. "Nawaz Sharif will be in and out of jail. This thing will continue," he said, adding that the Sharifs had only been granted bail and the case was still pending against them. "Those who were questioning the government for putting the names of the Sharifs on the Exit Control List (ECL) would have got the answer now. "Had we not done so, they could have flown to London soon after their release, and where would we have looked for these princes then?" the minister said, justifying the decision of the Cabinet to place the names of the Sharifs on the ECL during its first meeting last month. "We will not allow Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz to leave Pakistan and at the same time we will not allow (former finance minister) Ishaq Dar, and Hassan and Hussain (the two sons of Sharif) to stay out of Pakistan," he said. Chaudhry said that for them it was not important that how much time the Sharifs would spend in jail, as for the government bringing back the looted money of the people of this country was more important. Sharif, 68, resigned as Pakistan prime minister last year after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding public office and ruled that graft cases be filed against the beleaguered leader and his children over the Panama Papers scandal. The Avenfield case was among the three corruption cases filed against the ex-premier by the National Accountability Bureau on the Supreme Court's orders in the Panama Papers case.

No 'deal' with Saudi for release of Sharif & family from jail: Pak minister

The Afghan Taliban today condemned a deadly suicide bombing at Islam`s second holiest site in the Saudi city of Medina, describing it as &quot;an act of enmity and hatred&quot;.&nbsp; 
 
Four people were killed in the bombing outside the Prophet`s Mosque on Monday, the same day as an attack outside a minority shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia, and another near the US consulate in the western city of Jeddah.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;The Islamic Emirate (Taliban) &nbsp;which has been shocked by this gruesome act condemns this incident in the strongest of terms and considers it an act of enmity and hatred towards Islamic rituals,&quot; the militant group said in an emailed statement.&nbsp; 
 
There were no claims of responsibility for the bombings, but the Islamic State group had urged its supporters to carry out attacks during Ramzan. 
 
The Taliban, who were ousted from power by a US-led invasion in late 2001, have themselves been repeatedly blamed by the UN for deliberately targeting civilians in the war-torn country.&nbsp; 
 
As many as 600 civilians were killed and 1,343 were injured in the first three months of 2016, according to a UN report in April, with the Taliban responsible for six out of every 10 casualties.&nbsp; 
 
Monday`s suicide bombing received wide condemnation from across the Muslim world, with Shiite power Iran calling for Muslim unity following the attacks in its Sunni-dominated regional rival. 
 
Afghanistan`s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah also condemned the attacks in Saudi Arabia in a tweet today, expressing his sympathies to the people and government of Saudi Arabia. 
 
(AFP) 
 
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Four people were killed in the attack outside the Prophet`s Mosque on Monday

The Afghan Taliban today condemned a deadly suicide bombing at Islam`s second holiest site in the Saudi city of Medina, describing it as "an act of enmity and hatred". Four people were killed in the bombing outside the Prophet`s Mosque on Monday, the same day as an attack outside a minority shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia, and another near the US consulate in the western city of Jeddah. "The Islamic Emirate (Taliban) which has been shocked by this gruesome act condemns this incident in the strongest of terms and considers it an act of enmity and hatred towards Islamic rituals," the militant group said in an emailed statement. There were no claims of responsibility for the bombings, but the Islamic State group had urged its supporters to carry out attacks during Ramzan. The Taliban, who were ousted from power by a US-led invasion in late 2001, have themselves been repeatedly blamed by the UN for deliberately targeting civilians in the war-torn country. As many as 600 civilians were killed and 1,343 were injured in the first three months of 2016, according to a UN report in April, with the Taliban responsible for six out of every 10 casualties. Monday`s suicide bombing received wide condemnation from across the Muslim world, with Shiite power Iran calling for Muslim unity following the attacks in its Sunni-dominated regional rival. Afghanistan`s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah also condemned the attacks in Saudi Arabia in a tweet today, expressing his sympathies to the people and government of Saudi Arabia. (AFP)

Afghan Taliban condemn Medina bombing

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No 'deal' with Saudi for release of Sharif & family from jail: Pak minister

Afghan Taliban condemn Medina bombing