Iran’s intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi has issued a stern warning of retaliation against those responsible for the deadly attack on Iran's Revolutionary Guard personnel on February 13.
Although other Islamic Republic officials have also threatened retaliation since the attack on a bus carrying soldiers, which killed 27, Alavi directly addressed his threat to “operatives of world arrogance (U.S.) and international Zionism” and vowed to inflict hard revenge on “the masterminds, perpetrators and their sponsors”.
While Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei did not directly mention the United States in his condemnation on Thursday, other Iranian officials, including the president and the speaker of parliament, have directly blamed the U.S. and Israel.
The attack, which took place in the volatile southeastern Sistn and Baluchistan province was claimed by an Iranian Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), which has been carrying out a low-intensity armed campaign against the Islamic Republic.
The group is believed to have safe heavens in the Baluch regions of neighboring Pakistan and it is likely that an Iranian retaliation might target people on the Pakistani side of the border.