Reza Seifollahi, an official in the country’s Supreme National Security Council, was quoted by the independent Shargh daily as saying that the perpetrators of the attacks were Iranian nationals. He did not elaborate.

The bloodshed shocked the country and came as emboldened Sunni Arab states — backed by U.S. President Donald Trump — are hardening their stance against Shiite-ruled Iran.

The White House released a statement from Trump condemning the terrorist attacks in Tehran and offering condolences, but also implying that Iran is itself a sponsor of terrorism.

“We grieve and pray for the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks in Iran, and for the Iranian people, who are going through such challenging times,” the statement said. “We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote.”

In recent years, Tehran has been heavily involved in conflicts in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State, but had remained untouched by IS violence around the world. Iran has also battled Saudi-backed Sunni groups in both countries.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard indirectly blamed Saudi Arabia for the attacks. A statement issued Wednesday evening stopped short of alleging direct Saudi involvement but called it “meaningful” that the attacks followed Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, where he strongly asserted Washington’s support for Riyadh.

The secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement in this regard as follows:

Following the initiative launching a broad international coalition of Arab and Islamic countries and the United States against the clerical regime’s warmongering and terrorism, ISIS carried out unexpected attacks in Tehran against its own godfather, at Khomeini’s tomb and the regime’s parliament. It is noteworthy that ISIS has never acted against the regime in past years.

The Iranian regime’s President Hassan Rouhani claimed that “the incident was not unexpected” and Khamenei downplayed “these firework displays” as insignificant and ineffective.

The terrorist rivalry between the claimants of a Sunni Caliphate and the so-called Shiite Caliphate dubbed the velayat-e faqih in Iran, even if not tailor-made or staged, is the source of jubilation and elation for mullahs’ Caliph Khamenei.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, condemned the shedding of innocent people’s blood under any pretext. “ISIS’s conduct clearly benefits the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, who wholeheartedly welcomes it as an opportunity to overcome his regime’s regional and international impasse and isolation. The founder and the number one state sponsor of terror is thus trying to switch the place of murderer and the victim and portray the central banker of terrorism as a victim,” Mrs. Rajavi added.

The NCRI’s President-elect recalled: “The Iranian Resistance has always maintained that the Iranian people and Resistance have the responsibility to overthrow the religious, dictatorship ruling Iran and to dismantle all institutions and symbols of suppression and repression. We, therefore, call for an end to the policy of appeasing the mullahs’ regime and recognizing the just resistance of the Iranian people.”

To uproot terrorism in the region:

– The IRGC must be designated as a terrorist entity.

– The IRGC and paramilitary proxies of the Khamenei caliphate must be removed from Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

– The Organization of Islamic Cooperation must expel the mullahs’ regime and recognize the Iranian Resistance for ending religious fascism.

After 38 years of brutal suppression, executions and incarceration, the people of Iran will not be satisfied by anything less than freedom, democracy, and popular sovereignty.