Mashhad Terrorist Attack Won’t Harm Iran-Afghanistan Friendship: Interior Minister
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi described the recent stabbing attack in Mashhad as a terrorist action to which the enemy has resorted to foment religious division between friendly nations, stressing that the unity between Iran and Afghanistan won’t be harmed by such moves.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Vahidi said the terrorist attack that killed a clergyman and wounded two others at the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad revealed that the enemy has not abandoned its attempt to incite division and that arrogant approaches continue to feed terrorism.
“The enemy tries to take advantage of the ethnic and religious differences between friendly nations, but it will fail to achieve its objective,” he added.
Paying tribute to Afghan youth for devoting their lives to the battle against Takfiri currents and hailing the Afghan people for throwing the US out of their country, the Iranian minister said the recent stabbing attack will by no means harm the Afghan nation’s position.
“Iran and Afghanistan are a united nation with common civilizational roots and backgrounds,” Vahidi stated, emphasizing that hostile plots to create phobia about Iran in Afghanistan or about Afghanistan in Iran will get nowhere.
He also pledged that all “terrorist roots” of the incident and all currents that masterminded the attack will be identified.
A foreign assailant stabbed three clergymen at the shrine of the eighth Shiite Imam in Mashhad on Tuesday afternoon, killing one and injuring two others.
The attacker, 21, was later identified as Abdullatif Muradi, a man of Uzbek descent. He had reportedly entered Iran illegally from Pakistan a year ago before residing in Mashhad.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has directed the Intelligence Ministry to identify and arrest all elements with a role in the attack.
