- The Media Line - https://themedialine.org -

Iranian President Blames Terrorist Attack On U.S. Efforts To Destabilize Regime

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the United States a “bully” that is attempting to foment unrest in the Islamic Republic, hours after a terror attack on a military parade in the southern city of Ahvaz killed more than two dozen people including members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. While responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Iranian ethnic Arab separatist Ahvaz National Resistance, Rouhani accused Washington and its Gulf allies of providing material support to such anti-government groups. “The small puppet countries in the region are backed by America…[which] is provoking [these organizations] and giving them the necessary capabilities [to perpetrate attacks],” the Iranian president alleged, adding that Tehran’s response “is forthcoming” and that the U.S. would regret its “aggressiveness.” Rouhani’s comments came ahead of his departure to New York to attend the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly, during which President Donald Trump is slated chair a meeting on Iran in hopes of ratcheting up pressure on the country and with a view to solidifying support for the sanctions regime the White House re-imposed on the Islamic Republic after pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal.