Significance and messages of attack on religious shrine in Iran

Mohamed Shaat

One of the Shiite shrines in the city of Shiraz, in southern Iran, was recently subjected to an armed attack. As a result, at least one person was killed and eight others were injured, in the second attack of its kind targeting the same shrine in less than a year.

ISIS claims responsibility

Iranian television announced that ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attack that targeted the shrine of Shah Cheragh in Shiraz. According to Iranian reports, the arrested terrorist holds a foreign nationality and was in the process of carrying out a terrorist operation inside the vicinity of the shrine.

According to the Iranian Tasnim news agency, one of the attackers was arrested while the other fled. This is considered the second attack, where the shrine itself was targeted last October, which resulted in 13 people killed and 30 others wounded. On that day, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

In July, the Mizan Online website affiliated with the Iranian judicial authorities announced that two men were publicly executed for their involvement in the attack on the shrine in Shiraz, noting that Mohammad Ramez Rashidi and Naeem Hashem Qatali were executed after they were convicted of charges of “corruption on earth, armed rebellion, and acting against national security,” in addition to “conspiracy against the security of the country.”

Significance and messages

Dr. Masoud Ibrahim, an academic researcher specializing in Iranian affairs, said in exclusive statements to the Reference that the attack on the shrine was not the first of its kind, as the city had been subjected to several terrorist operations before, all of which were claimed by ISIS.

According to Ibrahim, the timing of the latest operation has great significance, as the operation took place in light of riots and a popular uprising that have extended for nearly a year after the killing of the Kurdish girl Mahsa Amini by the morality police in the Iranian capital, Tehran. This incident was the cause of the outbreak of an uprising in all Iranian provinces, especially the border areas, and in particular the Pakistani and Afghan borders.

Ibrahim pointed out that the interesting thing is that the first suspect in the attack is from Afghanistan, which indicates that the Afghan border is still a source of danger to the internal situation in Iran, that ISIS and the Taliban are still a source of concern for the Iranian regime, and that the recent attack won’t be the last.

He said that this attack confirms the fragility of the internal security situation in Iran due to the government’s preoccupation with the files of women and veils, leaving the security situation inside Iran permissible for all. It is not hidden from anyone that the security breaches that affected sensitive areas, as well as the killing of prominent officials in the regime at the hands of foreign security services, whose members infiltrated the Iranian interior and carried out their operations in the heart of the capital and in broad daylight.

Ibrahim also believes that this attack was a message to spread panic and fear in Iranian society and is the result of the successive failure of the government and the Iranian regime to control the political, economic and security situations in the country, as the regime is preoccupied with its regional project, which has drawn it into direct and indirect conflicts and wars with multiple parties, causing great confusion and loss of control at all levels.

Ibrahim concluded his statements by saying that the Iranian state is on the brink of economic collapse, the security situation is extremely fragile, enemies are lurking on all borders, and the regime is preoccupied with its nuclear program and hostility with America in files that aim only to consolidate its foundations at the expense of the lives and well-being of its people.