WASHINGTON _ In a pointedly succinct statement, the State Department Wednesday condemned the terror attacks in Iran and sent condolences, thoughts and prayers to "the people of Iran."
Gunmen using explosives stormed the Iranian parliament in Tehran and a venerated shrine earlier in the day, leaving 12 people dead and 42 injured.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for its first major attack in the Shiite-dominated country that has been relatively free of the kind of violence engulfing the region.
But the Trump administration has made Iran the focus of its anti-terrorism rhetoric and policies, apparently creating a quandary for how to respond.
The U.S. has long considered Iran to be a sponsor of terrorism outside its borders, although Tehran has been active in the fight against Islamic State, another stated priority of Trump.
The State Department usually expresses solidarity with and offers assistance to a government in a country where there has been a terrorism episode. But in Wednesday's three-sentence statement, it did not.
"The depravity of terrorism has no place in a peaceful, civilized world," the department said.
"The United States condemns the terrorist attacks in Tehran today," the statement said. "We express our condolences to the victims and their families, and send our thoughts and prayers to the people of Iran."
President Donald Trump, who frequently takes to Twitter to condemn global terrorism, was silent on the Iran attacks.
Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said, "Terrorism can never be tolerated, no matter where it takes place."
But he added that he hoped Iranian authorities "understand the cost that they are inflicting on other countries."
"No people anywhere should have to live under the threat of violent extremism _ whether this attack or the terrorism supported by the regime in Tehran," Engel said.
Iran supports Houthi rebels in Yemen and groups that the U.S. considers terrorists, such as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
