Iran arrests 'large' network of suspects over Ahvaz attack

Iran said it has arrested a large network of suspects over Saturday's attack on a military parade in Ahvaz that left at least 29 dead, including members of the elite Revolutionary Guard as well as women and children. 

“We will identify all terrorists linked to this attack ... A large part of this network has already been arrested,” said intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi. 

Meanwhile, Iran held funerals on Monday for the victims of the terror attack, which was the deadliest to strike the country in nearly a decade. 

Thousands of mourners gathered at the city's Sarallah Mosque on the Taleghani junction, carrying caskets in the sweltering heat.

Others, mainly young people wearing ethnic clothes of the region's Arab minority, held large photographs of those slain at Saturday's parade in Ahvaz, the Khuzestan provincial capital, where militants disguised as soldiers had opened fire at marching troops and onlookers. Of those killed, 12 people were from Ahvaz and the rest from elsewhere in Khuzestan.

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Speaking at the funeral ceremony, Revolutionary Guard's acting commander Gen. Hossein Salami vowed revenge against the attack's perpetrators and what he called the "triangle" of Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States.

"You are responsible for these actions; you will face the repercussions," the general said. "We warn all of those behind the story, we will take revenge".

Arab separatists have claimed the assault. The Islamic State group also claimed responsibility for the attack, but offered no clear evidence it carried out the assault.

President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday accused an unnamed US-allied regional country of supporting the perpetrators. Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Western diplomats, accusing them of allegedly providing havens for the Arab separatists behind the attacks.

The Ahvaz attack has further shaken Iran, already facing turmoil in the wake of the American withdraw from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

Rouhani's remarks could refer to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain — close US military allies that view Iran as a regional menace over its support for militant groups across the Middle East.

"All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes," Rouhani said before leaving for the UN General Assembly in New York.

The US on Sunday condemned the deadly attack but said the country's clerical rulers needed to look at reasons for unrest.

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