Haghighatpour: Attack on Saudi Embassy Was by Supporters of Sadeq Shirazi

The Vice Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament has accused the supporters of Ayatollah Sadeq Shirazi, a critic of the Islamic Republic, of attacking the Saudi Arabian embassy. However, the website Khabar Online has dismissed this accusation as 'baseless' and stated that the attack was carried out by individuals known as 'Velayatmadar'. On Saturday, January 19, Mansour Haghighatpour announced that a 'special' session of this commission will be held on Sunday to discuss the attack on the Saudi embassy, attended by senior officials from the Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Intelligence, Ministry of Interior, and Law Enforcement. Haghighatpour claimed that the 'supporters of Sadeq Shirazi' acted in an 'organized' and 'planned' manner to attack the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad. Previously, some conservative-affiliated websites, including 'Rahe Dana', had accused the supporters of Ayatollah Sadeq Shirazi of attacking the Saudi embassy. In contrast, the Khabar Online website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, labeled these accusations as 'baseless' and noted that groups supporting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic defended the attack on Saudi diplomatic sites, stating that it was carried out by individuals known as 'Velayatmadar' and 'Delvapas'. Some groups and individuals supporting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, initially defended the attack on the Saudi embassy. For instance, the weekly 'Yalasharat', affiliated with the Ansar Hezbollah organization, wrote about the attack that 'brave youths stormed the embassy of the Saudi tyrannical regime'. Abdolreza Davari, a supporter of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also described the attack on the embassy as a 'legitimate and revolutionary action'. Some conservative representatives in Parliament, including Hamid Rasai, Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, and Mehdi Hashemi, along with several conservative media outlets, protested against President Rouhani's statement condemning the simultaneous attack on Saudi diplomatic sites and the execution of Sheikh Nimr, attributing the attack on the Saudi embassy to the 'weak diplomacy' of Hassan Rouhani's government towards Saudi Arabia. In contrast, Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, called the incident 'suspicious', and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice, stated that the action 'could have been designed and supported by infiltrators'. Ayatollah Sadeq Shirazi, whom Haghighatpour accused of the attack on the Saudi embassy, is considered one of the critics of the Islamic Republic, and supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei have repeatedly referred to him and his supporters as 'British Shiites'. For instance, Ali Saeedi, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Revolutionary Guards, stated that 'extremist or London-based Shiites, such as Sadeq Shirazi, insult the sanctities of Sunni Muslims and promote neutral mourning'. Ayatollah Sadeq Shirazi has supporters not only in Iran but also in other countries, including Iraq, and operates 18 satellite television and radio channels to promote Shiite beliefs. Additionally, Shirazi's name appears on the list of teachers of Sheikh Nimr, the executed Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia. In another development, Iranian Ambassador to the UAE returned to Tehran. According to ISNA news agency, Mohammad Reza Fayyaz left the UAE for Tehran on Saturday morning. Media had previously reported that at the request of the United Arab Emirates, the number of Iranian diplomats in that country has been reduced to 15. Following the attack on Saudi diplomatic sites in Iran, besides Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Somalia, and Sudan have severed their relations with Iran, while Comoros, Qatar, and the UAE are among the countries that have reduced their relations with Iran. The attack on the Saudi embassy has sparked protests from many reformist political activists and supporters of Hassan Rouhani's government. For instance, Ebrahim Asgarzadeh, a reformist political activist and one of the leaders of the students who seized the US embassy in 1979, assessed the action as 'acid-throwing on the foreign policy of Rouhani's advancing government and damaging the JCPOA'. He added that 'the people will give a clear response to this radical action in the elections in Esfand'. Ahmad Tavakoli, a representative from Tehran, also criticized the failure of the police and security forces to respond to the attackers of the Saudi embassy in a Telegram post and called for 'serious and uncompromising judicial action' regarding the incident. Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, has asked the Ministries of Intelligence and Interior to 'take decisive action against those who may have been negligent in this incident and report it to the people'. In this context, ISNA reported on Friday the dismissal of Safarali Baratlou, the Deputy for Security and Police of Tehran Province, 'following the attack on the Saudi embassy'. However, Hossein Hashemi, the Governor of Tehran, stated on Saturday that this dismissal 'had been raised long ago' and 'has no connection' to the attack on the Saudi embassy. In this context, the Friday prayer leader of Tehran implicitly accused Saudi Arabia of attacking its own embassy, questioning why attacks on embassies are not prevented. The Minister of Justice stated that the attack on the Saudi embassy could be the work of infiltrators. The commander of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran called the attack on the Saudi embassy a very wrong act. The Security Council condemned the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Rouhani called for the punishment of those responsible for and ordering the attack on the Saudi embassy. The attack was described as being carried out by 'self-directed individuals'.