Iran says 7 arrested in connection with Tehran attack

Iranian officials have arrested seven people suspected of helping militants involved in this week's attacks in the capital Tehran, a judiciary official said on Saturday. 

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings and gun attacks on parliament and the mausoleum of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that killed 17 people on Wednesday.

If the IS claim is true, the bomb and gun attack would be the group's first successful attack in Iran, which is predominantly Shiite Muslim and regarded by Sunni militants as a nation of heretics. Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria are helping battle the Islamic State.

Ahmad Fazelian, a provincial judiciary official, said the seven arrested people, suspected of "providing support for the terrorist team," were detained in Fardis, about 50km west of Tehran, the judiciary's online news agency Mizan reported.

On Friday, authorities announced the arrests of 41 suspects in connection with the twin Tehran attacks.

Separately, the head of the judiciary in Fars province said seven people were detained in the southern Larestan area for possible ties to Islamic State, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on Saturday. 

Iran had denounced US President Donald Trump's reaction to the attacks in Tehran as "repugnant" after he claimed that Iran was reaping what it sows. 

Supreme Leaer Ayatollah Khameini in a condolence message on Friday had also accused the United States and Saudi Arabia of supporting the twin suicide that rocked the capital this week. 

Trump said the US would "grieve and pray" for the victims, but he added: "We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote."

That was condemned by the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who tweeted: "Repugnant WH [White House] statement ... as Iranians counter-terror backed by US clients."

Iran's intelligence ministry said the five men who carried out the attacks were Iranians who joined IS in Iraq and Syria before returning last summer.

The men were part of a network that entered Iran in July-August 2016 under the leadership of "high-ranking Daesh [Islamic State] commander" Abu Aisha and "intended to carry out terrorist operations in religious cities," a statement said.

Abu Aisha was killed and the network forced to flee the country, the statement added. It was not clear when the five men returned to Iran.

The statement indicates only five people carried out the attacks, rather than six as originally reported. 

The attackers were armed with rifles and pistols, and at least two blew themselves up with suicide vests.

Police said five people were arrested around Khomeini's shrine on suspicion of involvement, while the intelligence ministry said a third team had been stopped before the attacks started.

IS has threatened to step up recruitment within Iran, releasing its first Persian-language video in March in which it threatened to "conquer Iran and restore it to the Sunni Muslim nation as it was before".

IS militants regard Shia Muslims as apostates have made Tehran a target after its deep involvement in fighting the group in both Syria and Iraq.