How Nice attack brought together rival Iranian factions
The terrorist attack in Nice draws condemnation in Iran, but also cross-factional criticism of the French government for hosting the exiled Iranian opposition group MEK.
TEHRAN, Iran — It was just after 1 a.m. in Tehran when a truck in the southern French city of Nice rammed into crowds on Promenade des Anglais, killing more than 80 people. Many Iranians continued to stay up as news of the attack emerged, following the latest developments on news channels, the popular smartphone messaging app Telegram and the internet. There were reactions from Iranian officials and local media, and the attempted coup in Turkey later on July 15 eclipsed the news of the attack in Nice. Nonetheless, in a rare display of cross-factional unity, all sides of the Iranian political spectrum — including Reformists and conservatives — mostly took positions indicating that the French government had a double standard on terrorism.
One of the first reactions came from conservative politician Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, a former speaker who failed to get enough votes to secure a seat in the Feb. 26 parliamentary elections. He quickly took to Twitter to express his view on the Nice attack, using one of famous 13th-century Iranian poet Saadi Shirazi’s poems to imply that France should have seen it coming.
A similar opinion was expressed by Qom Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Saeedi. He said, “The supreme leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] has repeatedly urged the European governments to not support terrorism. If the terrorists fail in the region, they will start their destructive operations in Europe. The Iranian nation condemns the attack in Nice, but urges France to stop supporting terrorists.”
He added, “Daesh [Islamic State, or IS] has claimed responsibility for the Nice attack, and this is the punishment for countries supporting Daesh.”
