20 June, 2017
Trump's comments 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 September 11, 2001 in the United States.
The official IRNA news agency on Sunday quotes Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi as saying the suspect left Iran for a neighboring country following the attacks but "was sent to hell" by Iranian intelligence agents and " fellow intelligence services". The four-minute video shows three masked men sitting on a floor holding automatic rifles. Khomeini led the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah to become Iran's first supreme leader until his death in 1989.
It described them as "long affiliated with the Wahhabi", an ultraconservative form of Sunni Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia. As reports said, several armed people tried to break their way into the Parliament building. State TV broadcast the ceremony live.
Saturday's reported arrests in Iran followed a call by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for "no further escalation" in the region's parallel crisis, centered on Qatar. Many Iranian lawmakers agree, highlighted by their reaction to the Parliament attack.
Yet, at the funeral following Friday prayers, mourners chanted, "Down with the USA", and they called for death for members of the Saudi royal family.
The White House released a statement from Trump condemning the terrorist attacks in Tehran and offering condolences, but also implying that Iran is itself a sponsor of terrorism.
Pope Francis "laments this senseless and grave act of violence", and "assures the people of Iran of his prayers for peace", the message read.
Iran's Intelligence Ministry said Thursday that five of the men involved in the attacks were Iranians who had joined IS. Iran is the world's largest Shiite Muslim majority country, and thus, a prime target for Sunni jihadists like the Islamic State.
This week's attacks at parliament and the mausoleum of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini have exposed shortcomings among the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) which was supposed to be protecting these potent symbols of Iran's revolution. The Interior Ministry in a statement increased the number of wounded to 52, up from 40.