Iran’s President Raisi claims US ‘plot’ behind ISIS attack on Afghanistan’s mosque

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi claimed on Saturday that the suicide bombing which targeted a Shia mosque in Afghanistan was a “plot” by the US to sow “ethnic sedition” in the country.

ISIS had claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Afghanistan which targeted Shia Muslims in a mosque on Friday.

The attack killed at least 46 people and injured more than a 140 in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunduz province. The extremist group said that an ISIS suicide bomber “detonated an explosive vest amid a crowd” of Shia worshippers who had gathered inside the mosque.

The attack was the deadliest one in Afghanistan since US forces withdrew from Afghanistan when ISIS had targeted Kabul airport with a bombing on August 26 that claimed the lives of 169 Afghans and 13 US servicemen.

Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on August 15, ISIS has ramped up its attacks in the country, targeting Taliban members and Afghan citizens with several bombings, including two deadly ones in Kabul.

Raisi said: “This crime which was committed with the aim of sowing division among Muslims was committed by those whose anti-human and anti-religious nature is clear to everyone. The US has facilitated the expansion of the activities of ISIS criminals in Afghanistan and prevented up-rooting them,” according to Mehr news agency.

He added: “The continuation of terrorist actions and the combination of religious sedition with ethnic sedition creates division and sedition which is part of the new US security plot for Afghanistan.”

Iran is Shia Muslim majority country and has long been weary of the hardline Sunni Muslim Taliban. However, since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on August 15, Tehran has been conservative in its rhetoric about the group and has not been critical of its government.

More likely, the Iranian regime may be trying to build up the Taliban’s animosity towards the US given Tehran’s own stance towards Washington and its anti-West hardline regime under Raisi’s presidency.