Warning Issued to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan:
Iranians Bid Tearful Farewell to Martyrs
ISFAHAN (Dispatches) -- Dozens of comrades circled caskets on the back of trucks on Saturday as thousands of mourners attended a mass funeral for 27 IRGC soldiers martyred in a terrorist car bombing this week in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province.
Shouts of "Death to America,” and "Death to Zionism” reverberated as the crowd gathered in Bozorgmehr Square in the central city of Isfahan, where the soldiers were based.
The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Maj. Gen. Muhammad Ali Jafari, pledged to retaliate against Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates over the terrorist attack. Earlier, he said the United States and the occupying regime of Israel ordered Saudi Arabia and the Emirates to carry out the attack, which also wounded 12.
"The treacherous government of Saudi and Emirates should know that the patience of the Islamic Republic about your hidden support for criminals and Takfiri groups has come to an end and Iran will not tolerate it anymore,” said General Jafari in a speech to the crowd.
"We will get revenge for the blood of our martyrs from Saudi Arabia and Emirates,” he said. He asked President Hassan Rouhani to give the IRGC the freedom to retaliate.
Pegah Muhammadi, 19, a student, said she attended the funeral to say goodbye to heroes who sacrificed to provide security to the Iranian people. "They gave their blood to protect our borders, to bring us security and peace,” she said.
Family members accompanied the bodies of their loved ones to Isfahan’s Bagh Rezvan cemetery. Five of the martyred Guard members were buried there and the rest were sent in nearby cities and towns in Isfahan province for burial.
Wednesday’s attack, claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group, martyred both seasoned officers and younger soldiers, including a 20-year-old in the Isfahan-based IRGC forces. The assault martyred members of the IRGG’s Imam Hussein division, which played a significant role in various battles during the 1980s Iraqi-imposed war on Iran.
Jaish ul-Adl largely operates across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Recent terrorist assaults inside Iran have sparked retaliatory ballistic missile strikes in Iraq and Syria.
Since its founding in 2012, Jaish ul-Adl has abducted or martyred border guards in hit-and-run assaults from its havens in Pakistan. It kidnapped 11 Iranian border guards in October. Five later were returned to Iran and six remained held.
"The patience that the establishment once exercised against conspiracies and reactionary regimes in the region, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE which carry out these acts on orders from the U.S. and the Zionist regime, will be different and we will definitely take reparative measures," Jafari said.
He said Iran expects Pakistan to "punish” the group, which has taken refuge in the country’s southwest. "If they do not punish them, our retaliatory measures will be carried out in the near future,” he said. Jafari said the Pakistani government knows where the attackers are harbored, adding Pakistan security forces are supporting them.
"Why do Pakistan’s army and security body give refuge to these anti-revolutionary groups which are dangerous to Islam? Pakistan will no doubt pay a high price,” Jafari said.
Tehran has linked Wednesday’s attack to a U.S.-led conference in Warsaw largely focused on Iran, just two days after the nation marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The bomb struck a bus traveling on a road between the cities of Khash and Zahedan, a mountainous region along the Pakistani border that is also near Afghanistan. Images after the blast published by news agencies showed the explosion tore the bus apart.
"The enemies must be sure that the comrades of these martyrs and all those who have made covenants with the people to establish security, are even more determined to defend them and deal a yet stronger blow to the enemies," General Jafari said.
The IRGC issued a statement saying a vehicle loaded with explosives targeted a bus carrying border guards affiliated with its force.
"Just in the past year, six or seven suicide attacks were neutralized but they were able to carry out this one,” General Jafari told the mourners.
Shouts of "Death to America,” and "Death to Zionism” reverberated as the crowd gathered in Bozorgmehr Square in the central city of Isfahan, where the soldiers were based.
The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Maj. Gen. Muhammad Ali Jafari, pledged to retaliate against Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates over the terrorist attack. Earlier, he said the United States and the occupying regime of Israel ordered Saudi Arabia and the Emirates to carry out the attack, which also wounded 12.
"The treacherous government of Saudi and Emirates should know that the patience of the Islamic Republic about your hidden support for criminals and Takfiri groups has come to an end and Iran will not tolerate it anymore,” said General Jafari in a speech to the crowd.
"We will get revenge for the blood of our martyrs from Saudi Arabia and Emirates,” he said. He asked President Hassan Rouhani to give the IRGC the freedom to retaliate.
Pegah Muhammadi, 19, a student, said she attended the funeral to say goodbye to heroes who sacrificed to provide security to the Iranian people. "They gave their blood to protect our borders, to bring us security and peace,” she said.
Family members accompanied the bodies of their loved ones to Isfahan’s Bagh Rezvan cemetery. Five of the martyred Guard members were buried there and the rest were sent in nearby cities and towns in Isfahan province for burial.
Wednesday’s attack, claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group, martyred both seasoned officers and younger soldiers, including a 20-year-old in the Isfahan-based IRGC forces. The assault martyred members of the IRGG’s Imam Hussein division, which played a significant role in various battles during the 1980s Iraqi-imposed war on Iran.
Jaish ul-Adl largely operates across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Recent terrorist assaults inside Iran have sparked retaliatory ballistic missile strikes in Iraq and Syria.
Since its founding in 2012, Jaish ul-Adl has abducted or martyred border guards in hit-and-run assaults from its havens in Pakistan. It kidnapped 11 Iranian border guards in October. Five later were returned to Iran and six remained held.
"The patience that the establishment once exercised against conspiracies and reactionary regimes in the region, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE which carry out these acts on orders from the U.S. and the Zionist regime, will be different and we will definitely take reparative measures," Jafari said.
He said Iran expects Pakistan to "punish” the group, which has taken refuge in the country’s southwest. "If they do not punish them, our retaliatory measures will be carried out in the near future,” he said. Jafari said the Pakistani government knows where the attackers are harbored, adding Pakistan security forces are supporting them.
"Why do Pakistan’s army and security body give refuge to these anti-revolutionary groups which are dangerous to Islam? Pakistan will no doubt pay a high price,” Jafari said.
Tehran has linked Wednesday’s attack to a U.S.-led conference in Warsaw largely focused on Iran, just two days after the nation marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The bomb struck a bus traveling on a road between the cities of Khash and Zahedan, a mountainous region along the Pakistani border that is also near Afghanistan. Images after the blast published by news agencies showed the explosion tore the bus apart.
"The enemies must be sure that the comrades of these martyrs and all those who have made covenants with the people to establish security, are even more determined to defend them and deal a yet stronger blow to the enemies," General Jafari said.
The IRGC issued a statement saying a vehicle loaded with explosives targeted a bus carrying border guards affiliated with its force.
"Just in the past year, six or seven suicide attacks were neutralized but they were able to carry out this one,” General Jafari told the mourners.