MEMRI: Responses In Iran To ISIS Attacks In Paris
Special Dispatch | 6226 | November 20, 2015

Following last weekend's attacks in Paris by the Islamic State (ISIS),
Iranian regime spokesmen, for the most part, argued that French and American
support for takfiri terrorism and for ISIS was to blame for the events, and
that the French are now paying the price for their government's misguided
policy in Syria and the Middle East.

In line with his policy, according to which the U.S. is the enemy of Iran
and the Middle East, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in a video
released by his office and a cartoon posted on his website, alleged that the
U.S. and its allies were behind the Paris attacks, and that the U.S. had
created ISIS and is using it as a tool to achieve its goals in the Middle
East and the entire world.

In a phone conversation with French President Francois Hollande on November
17, Iranian President Hassan Rohani called "to fight ISIS with all our
might," but added that he "hopes that the group of countries that tried to
use terrorism as a tool to promote its interests has understood the danger
such a move poses for the world." It should be mentioned that his response
was characteristic of members of the pragmatic camp and the Iranian Foreign
Ministry, who hinted that France is paying the price of using ISIS terrorism
to promote its own interests.

Other regime spokesmen stressed that Khamenei had warned a while ago that
Western support for these Syrian terrorist elements will come back to haunt
them. They also complained of the hypocrisy of Western and European
countries, who only express shock when the Sunni ISIS terrorism strikes
their home, but did not express sympathy with its victims in Syria, Iraq,
and elsewhere in the world.

Expressions of solidarity and condolences from Iranian citizens outside the
French Embassy in Tehran was criticized by newspapers aligned with the
ideological camp. These newspapers criticized the "hypocrisy" of the
pragmatic camp's publications which attacked the West harshly – this time
for what it called its pro-ISIS policy. They complained that while the
pragmatic camp was quick to express solidarity with the Paris terror
victims, it refrained from doing so with regard to the Iranian victims in
Syria and Iraq.

This paper will review several Iranian officials' reactions to the Paris
attacks, as well as cartoons on the subject on Iranian websites.

Khamenei-Produced Video On IRGC-Affiliated Website: The U.S. And Its Allies
Are Behind Paris Attacks

A video produced by the office of Leader Khamenei, titled "Who Was Behind
the Paris Attacks," and posted November 17, 2015 on a Facebook page
affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), claimed
that the real culprits behind the attacks were the U.S. and its allies, who,
it said, had created ISIS and provided it with arms and training in order to
further its own goals in the world.

For video
http://www.memri.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5168.htm

The thumbnail preceding the video shows Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu,
U.S. President Obama, and ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in collusion.

A cartoon posted November 16, 2015 on Khamenei's website Khamenei.ir titled
"Big Brother Goofed!" showed Uncle Sam throwing an ISIS boomerang at Syria
and the boomerang returning to strike France.
Source: English.khamenei.ir, November 16, 2015.

Iranian Deputy Chief Of Staff: If The West Continues To Support Takfiri
Terrorism, It Must Expect More States Of Emergency To Be Declared Elsewhere
In Europe

On November 14, 2015, Iranian Deputy Chief of Staff Masoud Jazayeri
condemned the ISIS attacks in Paris, as well as the November 12, 2015
suicide bombing in Beirut in which some 40 people were killed, saying: "The
attacks in Paris are a product of regime of tyranny's [i.e. the U.S.'s and
the West's] support for terrorism. The catastrophe of bloody terrorism in
France has shown that if the French government and other supporters of
takfiri terrorism in the West and in France possessed reason and foresight,
they could have prevented such a crime from occurring in the heart of
France.

"Ever since the first months following the emergence of terrorism in Syria
and neighboring countries, we persistently warned European society that the
terrorism would reach them as well. We wanted the people to pressure their
governments to stop supporting terrorism in the region...

"The attacks in Beirut and Paris are two sides of the same coin... If the
West continues to support takfiri terrorism, it must expect more states [of
emergency] to be declared elsewhere in Europe."

Front page of Kayhan: "Rabid dog bites owner's legs" (Source: Kayhan, Iran,
November 15, 2015)

Kayhan Editor: The French Are Paying For The Crimes Of A Government That
Fostered Terrorism

Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the Iranian daily Kayhan, which is
affiliated with Supreme Leader Khamenei, wrote on November 15, 2015:
"Following the brutal crimes of ISIS, the Leader [Khamenei] warned the
countries that support takfiri terrorism, saying that they will reap a
whirlwind from the wind that they are now sowing. Today is the beginning of
that harvest that was predicted by the Leader...

"Edward Snowden revealed that the CIA and Mossad were involved in
establishing ISIS, which they called a 'honeypot,' to attract extremists and
to create a security [buffer] for the Zionist regime. Snowden further
revealed that the ISIS leader had been trained extensively by the Mossad for
a year, in both military tactics and public speaking... Now, following the
catastrophe in France and the deaths of innocents, next in line are the
U.S., some Western countries, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey. [This is
because] now... the terrorist elements... realize who the enemy is and are
coming home to roost. That is, anyone who creates a honeypot should expect
the bees to return to the hive.

"ISIS elements are not the good soldiers of Iran and Hizbullah, who defend
the innocent with their bodies. Rather, they are people with no sense,
cultivated by the Zionists, Americans, British, French, and Saudis, and will
attack anywhere there is an opportunity... The French are paying for the
crimes of their ministers."

Kayhan: Paris Attacks – An American-Zionist Conspiracy In Order To Send
Forces To The Middle East To Destroy 'The Resistance'

Kayhan's November 17 and 19 editorials stated claimed that the Paris attacks
were an American-Zionist conspiracy, according to which the U.S. created
ISIS and orchestrated the Paris attack in order to cause the West to
dispatch forces to he Middle East to oust the Assad regime and vanquish the
resistance axis.

For full report:
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8870.htm/

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