The United States Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, advised Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to “look in the mirror” rather than blame the United States for an attack this weekend in Ahvaz province during an annual military parade that killed 25 people and wounded dozens more.
Before heading to the UN General Assembly meetings in New York, Rouhani accused the US and other countries of being responsible for the assault, where militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on the parade crowd in Ahvaz.
“It is America who supports these little mercenary countries in the region,” Rouhani said, adding that Washington provokes and provides them with their required necessities to execute such crimes.
During an interview with CNN, Haley dismissed the claims, saying the President needs to “look at his own home base.”
“The Iranian people are protesting. Every ounce of money that goes into Iran goes into his military. He’s oppressed his people for a long time,” Haley told CNN host.
On Sunday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed to take "deadly and unforgettable" vengeance against attackers, according to Iranian media.
Several top senior Iranian officials condemned the attack accusing foreign parties who are against Iran’s regional policies of standing behind the deadly attack.
After Rouhani’s statement, Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) charge d'affaires and expressed strong protest against the remarks made by one of the UAE officials.
However, UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash responded Sunday by denying Iranian allegations alluding to his country’s involvement in training gunmen that attacked the military parade.
The “formal incitement against the UAE from within Iran is unfortunate, and has escalated after the Ahvaz attack,” Gargash said in a tweet.
The official asserted that UAE’s historical position against terrorism and violence is clear and Tehran’s allegations are baseless.
On Sunday, Iran also summoned ambassadors of the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Denmark, accusing them of harboring Iranian opposition groups, namely Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahvaz.
Later, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack and published a video with three men who supposedly attacked the parade.
Meanwhile, Reuters quoted spokesman of Ahvaz National Resistance as claiming responsibility for Saturday’s attack.
Arabs account for 3 percent of Iran's 80 million population, according to Iranian figures, however, Ahvazis contest statistics issued by Iranian authorities.
Activists say Ahvazis are between 8 million and 12 million and reside in three southern provinces known as Khuzestan, bordering Iraq, Bushehr and Hormozgan, along the east coast of the Gulf.
Last March, several protests erupted in Ahvaz after Iranian television broadcast a popular children’s program on Iranian people without referring to Arabs.
In January 2017, residents in Ahvaz cities joined others in over 80 Iranian cities protesting lack of services, poor economic situation and mismanagement.
According to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, authorities arrested more than 400 Ahvazi since the popular protests.
