The Promise Of Reply To Attack At The Shah Cheragh Mosque, Khamenei: We Are Responsive To The Opponents, Belitative To His Owned Agents And Agents

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Wikimedia Commons/Khameni.ir)

JAKARTA - Iran's supreme leader vowed to retaliate against those who threaten the security of the country after the massacre of Shiite pilgrims, an attack claimed by ISIS that threatens to escalate tensions amid widespread anti-government protests.

In a statement read on state TV, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attackers would definitely be punished and asked Iranians to unite.

"We all have an obligation to confront the enemy and traitor's agent or stupid," Khamenei stressed a day after the attack that killed 15 people.

Khamenei's call for unity appears to be aimed at most of the government loyalists, not protesters whose movement for nearly six weeks is seen as a threat to national security by authorities.

The leader of Iranian clerics has faced national protests since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman on September 16, was in a moral police custody.

Iranians have called for Khamenei's death and an end to the government during the protests, which has been one of the boldest challenges for the leadership of ulama since the 1979 revolution, drawing many Iranians into the streets.

Iranian officials said they had arrested an armed man who carried out an attack on the Shah Cheragh Mosque in Shiraz City. State media blamed "takfiri terrorists", the label Tehran uses for hardline Sunni Muslim militants such as ISIS.

Meanwhile, a senior official said the suspected attacker was in critical condition after being shot by police.

"Terrorists are in critical condition and we have not been able to interrogate them," said Deputy Governor of Easmail Mohebipour province, quoted by Tasnim's semi-official news agency.

CCTV footage broadcast on state TV on Thursday showed attackers entered the temple after hiding assault rifles in bags, shooting as worshipers tried to escape and hide in the corridor.

ISIS, once a security threat in the Middle East, has claimed previous violence in Iran, including a deadly twin attack in 2017 targeting parliament and the tomb of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.