Islamic State warns Iran more to follow after Ahvaz attack: report

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A spokesperson for the Islamic State (IS) says the recent attack on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards will not be the last, Reuters reports.

“The Ahvaz attack will not be the last one, God willing,” the extremist group’s spokesperson, Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer, stated in an undated recording released on IS’ Al Furqan network on Telegram on Wednesday, Reuters said.

“The soldiers of the caliphate have proven just how fragile the security of the Magi State [Iran] is,” Muhajer added.

On Sept. 22, four men dressed in military uniforms opened fire on marching soldiers and civilians at a military parade in Iran’s southwestern city of Ahvaz, killing at least 25 people, nearly half of whom were members of the Revolutionary Guard.

Shortly after the incident, IS published a statement on their propaganda website, Amaq agency, taking credit for the attack. A day later, they posted a video portraying three men in a vehicle who were allegedly on their way to the parade.

In the video, two men wearing military uniforms speak in Arabic about “carrying out jihad” and the third, in Persian, purportedly about the impending attack.

"#داعش" ينشر فيديو لثلاثة يظهر 3 أشخاص يرتدون زياً عسكرياً ويقولون إنهم في طريقهم لتنفيذ هجوم #الأهوازhttps://t.co/YRqO3UQBaZ#ISIS #Ahvaz #Iran pic.twitter.com/r0nzLUQm0u

— nbnlebanon (@nbntweets) September 23, 2018

Meanwhile, the Ahvaz National Resistance, an Arab opposition movement to Tehran, claims they were behind the attack. The group represents a community that has “long been neglected by the central government” and has poorer living standards in comparison to the rest of Iran. 

The attack was one of the worst in the army’s history and prompted immediate outbursts by Iran’s president and Supreme Leader, who blamed neighboring Gulf countries, the United States, and Israel.