TEL AVIV – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday charged Israel and the U.S. with being behind a suicide bombing that killed 27 people in southeastern Iran, and vowed revenge against Jaish al-Adl, the “mercenary group” that supposedly committed it on their behalf.
“The crime will remain as a ‘dirty stain’ in the black record of the main supporters of terrorism in the White House, Tel Aviv and their regional agents,” he said, according to Reuters.
“We will certainly make this mercenary group pay for the blood of our martyrs,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Rouhani as saying in response to Wednesday’s attack.
“The main root of terrorism in the region is America and Zionists, and some oil-producing countries in the region also financially support the terrorists,” he added.
Rouhani was speaking from Tehran’s Airport before leaving for a meeting regarding Syria with Russian and Turkish leaders Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published a claim that the perpetrators of Wednesday’s attack had affiliations with spy organizations.
“There is a link between this crime … and some regional and international spying and intelligence agencies,” Khamenei was quoted as saying.
The bomb, which targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards, was one of the most lethal in Iran in recent years.
Rouhani called on other countries in the area to crack down on terror.
“If this continues and they cannot stop the terrorists, it is clear — based on international law — that we have certain rights and will act upon them in due time,” he said.
The attack coincided with the Middle East conference in Poland, organized by the U.S. in a bid to increase pressure on Tehran.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dubbed it the “WarsawCircus” and said “cohorts of same terrorists cheer [terror] from Warsaw streets & support it with twitter bots? US seems to always make the same wrong choices, but expect different results.”