Tehran Says Recourse to Terrorism Shows Cowardice

TEHRAN- A senior Iranian diplomat says the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group is resorting to barbaric terrorism, which shows its degradation and cowardice.

“Daesh resorts to brutal terrorism … and brutality and barbarism are its main features,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday, according to Press TV.

He pointed to last week’s twin terrorist attacks in the Iranian capital Tehran and said there are masters who are directing the Daesh terrorists.

 The Iranian official added that Daesh elements’ recourse to terrorism shows their degradation, defeat, fear, cowardice and most important of all their confusion.

Araqchi emphasized that Daesh terrorists randomly shot at innocent people, which “shows that they have not achieved their goals.”

He said the confused masters of the Daesh group are to blame for the terrorist attacks in Tehran, adding, “Indiscriminate terrorism sees no option but the killing of innocent humans and this is a catastrophe which is repeated in Iraq and Syria every day.”

Mastermind behind Tehran Twin Attacks Killed

Meantime, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry has announced that the mastermind behind the Tehran terrorist attacks has been killed.

During a televised interview on Saturday, Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said that the terrorist commander was killed earlier in the day by intelligence forces.

He noted that the terrorist had fled the country following the ensuing security operations after the attack, but was killed with the cooperation of friendly foreign intelligence services.

At least 17 people were killed and 52 others injured in Tehran on Wednesday when gunmen mounted almost simultaneous assaults on Iran’s Parliament and the Mausoleum of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini. The Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

After offering condolences to the families of the attacks victims, Alavi stressed that over the past few months the country’s intelligence forces had neutralized over 25 terrorist cells.

He added that the large number of terrorist operations thwarted by Iran had pushed the terrorists into engaging in the Wednesday attacks.

Alavi also noted that in a recent intelligence raid a large amount of automatic weapons and grenade launchers were obtained from a terrorist group.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Police chief Hossein Ashtari has announced that a group of some 60 suspects has also been detained near Tehran in relation to the terrorist attacks.

Earlier, authorities reported the arrest of eight suspects in the country’s Alborz province, all of whom with ties to the recent attacks.

H.M