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Two Terrorist Attacks Hit Tehran

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday June 07 2017, @05:06PM   
from the nobody-is-safe dept.

takyon writes:

Terrorists have attacked the Ayatollah Khomeini mausoleum and Iranian parliament in two nearly simultaneous incidents:

There have been multiple attacks in the Iranian capital of Tehran, according to state media. A woman was arrested after a bomb attack and shooting spree wounded two people at the Ayatollah Khomeini mausoleum south of the city Wednesday, the semi-official Fars news agency reports. The news agency reported that a second attacker is currently surrounded by security officers.

That attack occurred at the same time as a shooting in the Iranian parliament, in which at least three people were injured after an attacker stormed the building in central Tehran, according to state-run Press TV.

Also at Washington Post, BBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera, and Tehran Times.

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Original Submission

• Re:ISIS took responsibility. Re:ISIS took responsibility. (Score: 4, Informative) by Arik on Wednesday June 07 2017, @07:04PM (2 children)

  by Arik (4543) on Wednesday June 07 2017, @07:04PM (#522138) Journal

  "ISIS, among other things, sees the Iranians as not Muslim, in no small part because Iran declared ISIS not Muslim a long time ago and helped Iraq and Syria fight them in one of the most significant commitments of forces since the 1979 revolution."
  
  While it's no doubt true that ISIS see Shiite Iranians as infidels, it actually has nothing at all to do with the Iranians returning the favor, as it's a theological stance that's a couple of hundred years old and the Iranian response is much more recent.
  
  ISIS regard Shiites of all form as infidels, more or less. That's little if any different from how they feel about traditional Sunnis either. You have to remember that this all starts with al-Wahhab in the 18th century, out in the desert, deciding that the entirety of Islam, every school, every ruler, every tradition, every Imam, they're *all* effectively infidels to these guys.

  --
  If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?

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• Re:ISIS took responsibility. Re:ISIS took responsibility. (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday June 07 2017, @07:13PM (1 child)

  by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday June 07 2017, @07:13PM (#522146)

  My experience is that convenience and military necessity tend to trump ideology in wartime. If the Iranians had been offering help to ISIS rather than their enemies, I'm pretty sure that ISIS would have found a way to be OK with Shiites. It's sort of like how between 1938 and 1948 in the US, the USSR went from being Irredeemable Bad Guys to being our brave and noble ally against the Axis powers to being Irredeemable Bad Guys again.

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  The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.

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  • Re:ISIS took responsibility. (Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Wednesday June 07 2017, @07:57PM

    by Arik (4543) on Wednesday June 07 2017, @07:57PM (#522174) Journal

    Well clearly they're more about crime and politics than religion at a certain level. These are not a bunch of pious guys, and a bunch of pious guys would never build something like this, no matter what religion. But they can't just shrug off religious arguments like the USA could in the cold war - that Wahhabi theology is just too critical to their ideology, to their recruiting, everything, it's hard to see them ever playing nice with Shiites. If they can't maintain the claim that they are ruling in accordance with Wahhabi theology, then the supply of suicide bombers might see a real sudden drop-off, you know?

    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?

    Parent