Terror Attacks Hit Tehran

Terrorists have launched attacks on Tehran in two separate incidents, killing several people and injuring more. 

The two almost simultaneous attacks took place at 9:30 local time (01:00am EST) this morning, June 7. The first attack took place at Iran’s parliament building in central Tehran, and the second at Ayatollah Khomeini’s shrine south of the city.

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There were initially conflicting reports about the number of attackers involved, and the number of casualties, but emergency services in Tehran said that 12 people have been killed and 42 are injured. 

Two suicide bombers — one iniitally thought to be a woman — were allegedly involved, one at parliament and one at Khomeini’s mausoleum. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack. The radical Sunni Muslim group, also known as Daesh, regards Shia Muslims as heretics. 

Most reports from Iranian media indicate that there were four, or possibly five, attackers at the parliament building. Three of them were carrying AK47s and one had a handgun, but it was unclear whether the alleged suicide bomber was one of those armed with a gun in addition to wearing a belt with explosives. According to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency, eight people have been killed. Fars News, which has close links to the Revolutionary Guards, reported that 10 people were injured during the attacks. One Iranian member of parliament said one of the four attackers had been killed. 

An IranWire citizen journalist witnessed authorities confiscating people's cell phones while they were trying to record events outside the parliament building. Tehran's prosecutor has asked all reporters and photographers to leave the scene, except for reporters working for state television. 

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence has said that members of a terrorist cell have been arrested. Revolutionary Guards commander, Aziz Jafari, arrived at the parliament building soon after the attacks. 

ISIS reportedly released a video from inside parliament as the attack was taking place. 

According to other media, the terrorists took four hostages in the parliament building, and some sources said that the Revolutionary Guards’ anti-hostage unit arrived on the scene shortly after the attacks. 

Reports from the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, are even less clear at the moment. IranWire sources in Tehran say that a bomb was detonated in the shrine, with four attackers responsible for the carnage. An IranWire citizen journalist who lives close to the shrine said that one attacker triggered a suicide belt. There are also reports that another person had committed suicide with cyanide. 

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One or more attackers were reportedly killed by security forces. According to the semi-official Mizan News Agency, one of the attackers was carrying six hand grenades and was shot and killed by the police. Tasnim News Agency and an IranWire citizen journalist report that two attackers at Khomeini’s shrine have been arrested. At least one of the arrested attackers was female. Another female attacker was said to have committed suicide outside the Khomeini shrine because she was unable to access the site and decided to trigger the belt outside of the main building in an area where there were no people.

Iran’s minister of interior, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, has said that there will be a top security meeting to review the attacks.