2017 Tehran attacks

The 2017 Tehran attacks were a series of two simultaneous terrorist attacks that occurred on 7 June 2017 that were carried out by five terrorists belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against the Iranian Parliament building and the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, both in Tehran, Iran, leaving 17 civilians dead and 43 wounded.
The shootings were the first terrorist attacks in Tehran in more than a decade, and the first major terror attack in the country since the 2010 Zahedan bombings.

Government officials later stated that they had foiled a third attack that day. Iranian security services stated on 8 June that they had identified the five militants responsible for the twin events, disclosing the men's first names, and detailed that they were of Kurdish Iranian background and had returned to Iran in August 2016. The terrorists reportedly served in a clandestine cell linked to Wahhabi-related networks. Some Iranian officials have accused the American, Israeli, and Saudi governments of being behind the attacks.

On June 13, the Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, stated that the terrorist attacks were carried out at the demand of Riyadh. "We have precise intelligence showing that unfortunately, Saudi Arabia, in addition to supporting the terrorists, has demanded them to conduct operations in Iran," he said.

On 10 June, security officials stated that they had killed the operational commander and mastermind behind the attacks.

On 18 June 2017, the IRGC launched a series of medium-range precision missiles at an ISIL headquarters in Dayr al-Zawr (Syria) from inside Iran. The retaliatory strikes were, according to an IRGC statement, sending a message to the terrorists and their networks of supporters after the bloodshed in Tehran.

Background

The Iranian government has been battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for over three years with both military advisers and direct troops fighting the group's militants in both Iraq and Syria. ISIL, whose doctrine is based on the stringent Wahhabi segment of Sunni Islam, sees Shia Muslims, the largest Muslim population group in Iran, as apostates and enemies of Islam. Nonetheless, ISIL had yet to carry out any attacks within Iran despite repeatedly threatening the nation's people. In the months before the attack, ISIL increased its propaganda efforts in Persian to influence Iran's Sunni minority.

President of Iran Hassan Rouhani has stressed greater rights for minorities, including Iranian Sunnis, and he made engagement efforts an element of his successful re-election campaign. However, areas such as the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan have had persistent conflicts with Sunni extremist cells, including assassination attempts by the militants. On 8 June 2017, Iran's intelligence minister, Mahmoud Alavi, remarked that the government had broken up "a hundred terrorist plots" over the past two previous years alone.

On 3 May 2017, Saudi Deputy crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, accused Iran of aiming to wrest control over Islam's holiest site in Mecca and threatened action. Salman stated, "We won't wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia, instead, we will work so that the battle is for them in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia." The comments attracted condemnation from Iranians such as Minister of Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif.

Parliament attack

According to a statement given by Hossein Zolfaghari, the Iranian deputy Minister of Interior, to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, four militants entered the Parliament's administrative building disguised as women. Several of the gunmen opened fire, leaving seven to eight people injured. The militants were reported to have taken some people hostage, although the Iranian government denied this. The ISIL outlet Amaq News Agency released footage purportedly from a terrorist as he undertook the shooting, captured on the man's smartphone.

The building was subsequently surrounded by security forces. An Iranian member of parliament said that one of his staff was among the victims. Iranian state television reported that one of the attackers had blown himself up inside the parliament building while parliament was in session, while according to some other news agencies, the explosion could have been due to the grenades thrown by the attackers. Associated Press reported that journalists at the site had seen police snipers on nearby rooftops. Shops in the neighborhood were closed. Eyewitnesses said that the gunmen were shooting at people in the street from the fourth floor of the parliament building.

Iran's parliament continued meeting even as shooting erupted outside the main chamber. Ali Larijani, the speaker of the parliament, dismissed the attacks, saying they were a "trivial matter" and that security forces were dealing with them. Iranian MPs posted selfies from inside the parliamentary chamber in a show of defiance.

IRGC special forces operation

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) special forces known as Saberin Unit entered the operation scene under the command of Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, Commander of the IRGC Ground Forces, and the snipers took up their positions. Minutes later, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, chief commander of IRGC, entered the scene accompanied by Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy commander of IRGC, Brigadier General Gholamhossein Gheybparvar, commander of Basij and Brigadier General Hossein Nejat, deputy chief of IRGC intelligence office.

A team of the special forces made their way to the upper floors of the parliament and killed one of the terrorists which made the two others begin shooting indiscriminately at people. This shooting revealed their position to the forces. Meanwhile, IRGC forces killed another terrorist before he detonated his suicide vest. The Iranian government later stated that four gunmen had been killed.

Mausoleum attack

The attack on the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini took place at 10:30 am on 7 June 2017, and the fact that it occurred around the same time as the strike against the Iranian parliament immediately aroused suspicion that the two were coordinated as "twin attacks". According to the New York Times, the attacks lasted for several hours.

According to the administrator of mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the attack on the mausoleum left one person dead and three people injured. BBC
...