The FINANCIAL — U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has dismissed Iran’s accusations that the United States was behind a deadly weekend attack on a military parade in southwestern Iran, calling the allegations “ludicrous.”
Mattis pointed out to reporters at the Pentagon on September 24 that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump condemned the attack at a military parade in the city of Ahvaz on September 22, the day it occurred. At least 25 people were killed in the incident, including a 4-year-old child, according to RFE/RL.
Two groups have claimed responsibility for the attack: the ethnic Arab antigovernment Ahvaz National Resistance and the extremist group Islamic State (IS).
Mattis said he wasn’t concerned about Iranian vows to take revenge.
Iran’s supreme leader and deputy head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps earlier in the day both repeated accusations that the United States and Israel were involved in the attack and promised a “devastating” response.
Members of the IRGC were among those killed as gunmen fired on a viewing stand in Ahvaz where officials had gathered to watch the annual parade marking the start of Iran’s 1980-88 war with Iraq.
Mourners carried their coffins wrapped in flags and some held pictures of the young boy killed in the incident, one of the worst such attacks against Iran’s most powerful military force.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said some 22 people were arrested in connection with the attack.
