US and Iranian officials have become locked in a war of words over an attack on a military parade in Iran on Saturday that killed at least 25 people and injured more than 60 others.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused an unnamed United States-allied country in the Persian Gulf of being behind the terror attack in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.
But Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said Iran should "look in the mirror" for the causes of the attack and that Rouhani had "oppressed his people for a long time".
Nikki Haley. Photo / AP
"He's got the Iranian people ... protesting, every ounce of money that goes into Iran goes into his military, he has oppressed his people for a long time and he needs to look at his own base to figure out where that's coming from," Haley told CNN.
"He can blame us all he wants. The thing he's got to do is look in the mirror."
Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards vowed to exact "deadly and unforgettable" vengeance for the attack. Among the dead were 12 members of the Guard.
Four assailants fired on a viewing stand where Iranian officials had gathered to watch the annual event marking the start of the Islamic Republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq. As some soldiers crawled about as gunfire rang out, others shielded civilians while women and children fled for their lives.
Both Isis (Islamic State) and the Ahvaz National Resistance, an Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack. Iran appeared to have taken the Ahvaz National Resistance's claim more seriously.
The region's Arab separatists, once only known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, accuse Iran's Persian-dominated Government of discriminating against its ethnic Arab minority. Khuzestan province also has seen recent protests over Iran's nationwide drought, as well as economic protests.
Hassan Rouhani. Photo / AP
Rouhani's comments came as Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Western diplomats over them allegedly providing havens for the Arab separatists.
The ministry later summoned the United Arab Emirates' envoy as well over what it called the "irresponsible and insulting statements" of an Emirati adviser, according to the semi-official Isna news agency. The UAE did not immediately acknowledge the summons.
By accusing US-allied country in the Gulf of being behind the attack, Rouhani could have been referring to Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Bahrain - close US military allies that view Iran as a regional menace over its support for Middle East militant groups.
"All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes," Rouhani said before leaving for the UN General Assembly in New York.
