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Iran Arrests 26 Foreigners over Deadly Shiraz Attack

Iranians march during a protest condemning the Shiraz attack and unrest in Tehran (Reuters)
Iranians march during a protest condemning the Shiraz attack and unrest in Tehran (Reuters)
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Iran Arrests 26 Foreigners over Deadly Shiraz Attack

Iranians march during a protest condemning the Shiraz attack and unrest in Tehran (Reuters)
Iranians march during a protest condemning the Shiraz attack and unrest in Tehran (Reuters)

Iran has arrested 26 foreign nationals over their alleged involvement in a deadly attack claimed by ISIS on a shrine, the intelligence ministry said Monday.

At least 13 people were killed on October 26 in an armed attack on the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, according to an official toll.

"The intelligence ministry has identified and arrested all agents involved in the terrorist operation in Shiraz," said a statement published on the ministry's website.

According to the statement, the 26 are from Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

They were arrested in the provinces of Fars, Tehran, Alborz, Kerman, Qom and Razavi Khorasan, as well as along Iran's "eastern border", AFP quoted the ministry as saying.

The perpetrator of the attack in Shiraz, identified by the intelligence ministry as Sobhan Komrouni, died of wounds sustained while he was being arrested.

The ministry said he was "a Tajik national" known as Abu Aisha.

It added that the main coordinator of attacks in Iran, an Azeri national, was also arrested, having entered the country through Tehran's international airport from Baku.

He had been in contact with an ISIS network abroad after arriving in Tehran, it added.

On October 31, the ministry announced that several others had been arrested, including an "operational support element" identified Monday as Mohammed Ramez Rashidi, an Afghan national.

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Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
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Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Iran will react to any reimposition of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program, the country's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, without elaborating on what actions Tehran might take.

A French diplomatic source told Reuters last week that European powers would have to restore UN sanctions on Iran under the so-called "snapback mechanism" if there were no nuclear deal that guaranteed European security interests.

The "snapback mechanism" is a process that would reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran under a 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures in return for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.

"The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference, without giving further details.

The 2015 deal with Britain, Germany, France, the US, Russia and China - known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - states that if the parties cannot resolve accusations of "significant non-performance" by Iran, the "snapback mechanism" process can be triggered by the 15-member UN Security Council.

"The European parties, who are constantly trying to use this possibility as a tool, have themselves committed gross and fundamental violations of their obligations under the JCPOA," Baghaei said.

"They have failed to fulfill the duties they had undertaken under the JCPOA, so they have no legal or moral standing to resort to this mechanism."

Western countries accuse Iran of plotting to build a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies.

The United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 under the first administration of President Donald Trump, who called the agreement "weak".

Trump, whose second presidency began in January, has urged Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations on a new deal after a ceasefire was reached last month that ended a 12-day air war between Iran and Israel that destabilized the Middle East.

When asked if Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would meet with Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, Baghaei said no date or location had been set for resuming the US-Iran nuclear talks.