Iran to Respond more Decisively to Terrorist Attacks on Its Soil: Rouhani

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has stressed that the Islamic Republic will respond “more decisively” to any future terrorist attack on Iran’s soil.

Rouhani made the remarks in a ceremony on Tuesday in reference to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) firing six medium-range ground-to-ground missiles at Daesh bases in Syria’s Deir Ezzour on Sunday in retaliation for twin terrorist attacks in the Iranian capital Tehran, which killed 17 people and injured over 50 others, Press TV reported.

 He added that the IRGC’s move to fire missiles toward Daesh positions in Syria was not made by one person or military component.

“If we decide to target a location with missiles, this decision falls within the field of national security,” said Rouhani.

“Such decisions are made by the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC),” he added.

Rouhani, the chairman of the SNSC, said the body had in response to the terrorist attacks in Tehran given wider authority to the country’s Armed Forces than the missile raid on Daesh in Syria.

Earlier in the day, the IRGC announced that at least 65 Daesh terrorists, including several high-ranking intelligence commanders, were killed in Iran’s missile attack.

Noting that Iran’s policies in relation to the region and global affairs have not changed, Iran’s president stressed that if any group tries to attack the country and harm the Islamic Republic they will receive a “decisive answer.”

Stressing that the recent attacks in Tehran were not the first attempts made by terrorists on Iranian soil, Rouhani added that Iran’s intelligence Ministry and Armed Forces have reacted accordingly to the recent attacks and have been able to foil tens of such attacks in the past.

On June 7, gunmen mounted almost simultaneous assaults on Iran’s Parliament and the Mausoleum of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini. The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assaults. The attacks killed 17 people and injured over 50 others.

H.M