Arrest of Several Military and Security Forces Due to 'Negligence' in Ahvaz Attack

A member of the Iranian Parliament's presiding board stated that several 'culprits' of the Ahvaz incident have been arrested and referred to court. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Intelligence were responsible for securing the military parade in Ahvaz, and meanwhile, some Telegram channels reported that a number of personnel from these two organizations were arrested due to 'negligence' in the Ahvaz incident. The Iranian Parliament held a closed session on Tuesday, October 1, regarding the attack on the military parade in Ahvaz, attended by the ministers of intelligence and interior, the director general of intelligence in Khuzestan, and the governor of the province. After this session, Behrouz Nemati, a member of the Parliament's presiding board, announced that several 'culprits' of this incident have been arrested and referred to court, without providing further details or statistics. Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, had stated on October 7 that 'carelessness' and 'management weakness' were the 'causes' of the armed attack on the military parade in Ahvaz. According to Falahatpisheh, at the time of the attack, '8 or 9 sniper rifles overlooking the area were present,' but they did not fire at the attackers. He also mentioned on Sunday that '500 cameras have been installed in Azadi Stadium in Tehran to arrest transgender girls upon entering the stadium; meanwhile, when I was sorrowfully examining the terrorist crime in Ahvaz, I thought that if even one of these cameras had covered the area behind the podium, the heart of Iran would not be in such pain.' Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, another member of the Parliament's National Security Commission, stated that the attackers fired at the military parade for '12 minutes' and 'no one even shot back at them.' Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, also described the 'irresponsible negligence' of the intelligence and security agencies as 'unforgivable' in a message he published regarding this deadly attack. Iranian officials, in contradictory statements, eventually announced that all five attackers in this incident were killed. The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the Ahvaz attack. The IRGC announced that they targeted the 'headquarters of the leaders' of the Ahvaz attack in eastern Euphrates in Syria with 'six medium-range ballistic missiles.' According to Iranian officials, the attack on the military parade in Ahvaz resulted in 24 deaths and over 60 injuries.