The Presence of a Woman Among the Attackers of the Parliament Has Been Denied

The head and a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament separately denied the hypothesis of a woman's presence among the attackers in the bloody assaults on the Parliament last Wednesday. Aladdin Boroujerdi, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, stated on Tuesday, June 13, in an interview with ISNA: "Based on the expert work that has been done, there is no evidence of a fourth terrorist in this operation." He emphasized that this is the "opinion of security experts." Alireza Rahimi, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission and a member of the Hope faction in Parliament, also stressed in an interview with ILNA that a "complete report" on the details of the attacks in Tehran will be published in the coming days. Rahimi also noted regarding the woman whose hand appears in the video released by the attackers: "No details have been provided in this regard yet." The attackers released a video of their shooting in the office of one of the representatives during the bloody attacks, in which the attacker speaks in Arabic. This short video became a topic of discussion among linguists and Arabic language experts, with some attributing the attacker's Arabic accent to North or West African Arabic, while others speculated that the attacker was a non-Arab due to the use of formal and non-colloquial words. However, the controversy surrounding the video continued even after the identity of the attackers was deciphered and the sentences were translated. Recently, several social media users and some websites analyzed the video second by second, reporting the depiction of a woman's hand dressed in green clothing, suggesting it might belong to the cameraman. Alireza Rahimi, continuing his conversation with ILNA, referred to a closed session on Tuesday, stating: "A credible report on the details of this terrorist attack was not presented, but these details will be discussed in the coming days." According to this representative from Tehran, "The question of how the terrorists gained access to the Parliament, the route they took to enter Tehran, the address and details of the house they stayed in before the operation, the vehicle that brought them to the Parliament and Imam Khomeini's shrine, the operational cover that was planned for them, and the assessment of the incident by ISIS supporters are all under investigation, and for this reason, a clear picture is not yet available for the members of Parliament." On Wednesday, June 7, 2017, five attackers simultaneously attacked the Imam Khomeini shrine and the Iranian Parliament building in Tehran, resulting in the deaths of 17 people and injuries to dozens more. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but several Iranian officials and military commanders have implicitly or explicitly mentioned Saudi Arabia's role in these attacks. Saudi Arabia has denied these accusations. In the days following the bloody attacks in Tehran, dozens were arrested on charges of affiliation with Wahhabi and Takfiri groups or involvement with ISIS in provinces and cities located in the west, northwest, and south of Iran.