Iran arrests Daesh-linked ‘most pivotal’ supporter of Shah Cheragh terrorist attack

Iran's Intelligence Ministry says it has arrested a Daesh-linked suspect that played the “most pivotal” supporting role in the recent deadly terrorist attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in the southern city of Shiraz.

The ministry made the announcement in a statement on Friday as it elaborated on the measures taken to counter and identify the terrorists behind the weekend’s attack on Shah Cheragh and the one that took place in the same place last year.

On Sunday evening, a gunman started shooting at people at the Shah Cheragh holy shrine in the southern Iranian city, killing at least two people and injuring several others. He was arrested at the scene and handed over to investigators for interrogation. 

The statement said 196 Takfiri terrorists were arrested or killed between the two terrorist assaults on the holy shrine in Shiraz, all of whom were non-Iranians and from the Republic of Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

The Intelligence Ministry said the US-created Takfiri Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for last year's attack and declared it would launch a retaliatory operation and send terrorists to Iran after the trial and punishment of a number of the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

The statement said the perpetrator of the recent terrorist operation in Shiraz was exactly the same type of Takfiri terrorists who entered the country with the aim of reprisal.

“Like last year's dead terrorist, he is also a citizen of Tajikistan, who got to know and was attracted to Daesh through the [social media] platform of Telegram,” the Intelligence Ministry said.

“To enter Iran, he passed through Tajikistan, Turkey and Pakistan, then he was trained in Badakhshan province of Afghanistan and illegally entered the country from the eastern borders,” it added. “In Iran, through the same foreign platform, he was in contact with the commanding generals of the operation to receive instructions and weapons, and finally, on Sunday, August 13, he embarked on the terrorist operation.”

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Drawing an analogy between the two attacks, the statement said both assailants were Takfiri terrorists with Tajik nationalities, and that the first attack coincided with nationwide riots plotted by Iran's enemies while the latter came as the anniversary of those riots is approaching.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry also underlined that the United States is seeking to reactivate Daesh after the terrorist group was defeated by the resistance front in the West Asia region.

“The silence of Europeans as the purported advocates of human rights regarding the recent terrorist attack, along with the joy of their affiliated media in this regard, is not only another clear example of their hypocritical stance and double standards but can also show another address of the Takfiri terror creator and sponsor club,” the statement noted.

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The Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz was the scene of a similar attack by armed terrorists last year.

On October 26, 2022, an armed terrorist barged into the shrine, killing 15 pilgrims, including women and children, and injuring dozens more before he was shot and injured by security forces. The terrorist later died of his wounds in hospital.

Last year's terrorist attack followed foreign-backed riots in Iran after the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini. In mid-September, she fainted at a police station in the capital Tehran and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. An official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization concluded that Amini’s death was caused by illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.

Iran’s intelligence community said several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, used their spy and propaganda apparatuses to provoke violent riots in the country.

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