Iranian security forces kill mastermind of Tehran attacks

The Iranian security forces have killed the mastermind behind the two deadly terror attacks on the country's Parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini.

Press TV quoted Iran's Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi, as saying in a televised interview on Saturday that the mastermind of the terrorist attack on Iran's Parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini on June 7 were killed earlier in the day by the intelligence forces.

He added that the mastermind of the operation, who had fled the country, was killed by Iranian security forces with help from friendly intelligence services.

Alavi noted that about 43 terrorists have been identified and arrested following the recent terrorist attack in the country, adding that some of them were in connection with the Tehran twin attacks and some of them were planning for terrorist acts in the future too.

Earlier, the Iran's Revolutionary Guards blamed Saudi Arabia for Wednesday's deadly terror attacks.

The Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed to take revenge for the attacks, and said that there was a definitive link to the visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia in May, CNN reported.

Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran have had strained relations throughout their history and have been involved in a sectarian feud for more than 1,000 years.

At least 12 people were killed when six attackers mounted simultaneous gun and suicide bomb attacks on Iran's Parliament building and the tomb of the republic's revolutionary founder, in one of the most audacious assaults to hit Tehran in decades. Equipped with AK-47 assault rifles, handguns and suicide vests, the gunmen killed security guards and ordinary people before holding people hostage in the upper floors of the building. One of the attackers reportedly blew himself up inside as the police surrounded the building.

The Tehran Security Council had convened an emergency meeting after two terror attacks occurred on the Iranian Parliament and Imam Khomeini Mausoleum respectively on Wednesday.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility of the two attacks - a suicide bomb and gun assault - on the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of the founder of the Islamic Republic. The ISIS media wing, Amaq, claimed "fighters with the Islamic State" carried out the assault.

-ANI