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Iranian police officers secure the area around the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following an assault there and on the country's parliament building that left at least 17 people dead last week. Ebrahim Noroozi/AP hide caption

Iranian police officers secure the area around the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following an assault there and on the country's parliament building that left at least 17 people dead last week.

Iran says security forces have killed the "mastermind and main commander" of last week's attacks in Tehran that killed 17 people. ISIS had claimed responsibility for the violence at the parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Iranian Minister of Intelligence Mahmoud Alavi said over the weekend that "the terrorist had fled the country following the ensuing security operations after the attack, but was killed with the cooperation of friendly foreign intelligence services," according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.

Alavi did not give details about where the man was killed, other than to say that the commander of the five attackers had been in Iran's border region and had left the country last week.

Alavi also said that in the past three months, Iran has broken up 25 terrorist teams.

Last Wednesday's rare and coordinated attacks on Tehran left dozens of people wounded. At least some of the attackers reportedly disguised themselves by wearing women's clothing, using guns and explosives to cause mayhem at the mausoleum and parliament, or Majlis.

While ISIS claimed responsibility, Iranian officials have also suggested Saudi Arabia may have played a role and Iran's foreign minister called the official U.S. response "repugnant," after President Trump ended his expression of condolences for the victims with the message that "states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote."

Announcing the retribution against the mastermind behind the attack, Alavi used another term for ISIS to say, "Our enemy is not Daesh, but rather Daesh is a tool in the hand of our foes," according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

As the Tehran Times reports, "Iran has been helping the governments in neighboring Iraq and Syria in fight against Daesh, which considers Shiites to be apostates."

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Iran Says It Killed Mastermind Of Deadly Attacks On Parliament And Mausoleum - NPR

New York Times

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U.S. Cyberweapons, Used Against Iran and North Korea, Are a ... - New York Times

Iran celebrated on Monday as the country's national soccer team qualified for next year's World Cup finals by beating Uzbekistan 2-0 with goals from Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi.

Azmoun's goal midway through the first half at the Azadi Stadium put them on track to qualify for a place in Russia before Taremi added a second two minutes from time as Iran reached back-to-back World Cup tournaments for the first time.

The three-time Asian champions, who also missed a penalty just after the break, became the second nation after five-times champions Brazil to qualify for the finals by securing a fifth World Cup appearance at the 32-team tournament.

Iran's president Hassan Rouhani congratulated the nation and the players on clinching a place at the finals. "Your victory made all of us happy... Guys well done for the qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia," he tweeted.

Thousands of Iranians spilled onto the streets after the match with impromptu street parties in Tehran and across the country as people danced, waved flags and honked car horns.

"People are shouting 'Iran, Iran'... It is like a carnival We are so happy and proud of our team," said Iran fan Reza Ghanbari in northern Tehran's Tajrish Square.

The win means Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz's Iran team will finish in the top two places in Group A of Asia's final round of qualifying. Uzbekistan are eight points adrift of the leaders in third place and have only two games remaining.

The top two teams in each of Asia's two qualifying groups advance automatically to the finals while the teams in third place go through a series of playoffs.

Azmoun opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when Alireza Jahanbaksh's through ball found the FC Rostov striker with time and space behind the Uzbek defense to roll the ball under goalkeeper Aleksandr Lobanov and into the net.

Captain Masoud Shojaei squandered the chance to double Iran's advantage five minutes into the second half when he fired a penalty over the bar after Taremi had been bundled over in the box by Akmal Shorakhmedov.

But Taremi calmed Iran's nerves when he added the second goal late on by curling a low shot into the corner of Lobanov's goal to spark the celebrations amongst the home supporters.

(Writing by Michael Church in Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Ankara; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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Soccer: Iran celebrates as national team earns World Cup spot - Reuters

President Trump is preparing to accept hundreds of refugees from Iran and other terrorist-connected countries, taking them from camps being maintained by Australia under a deal his predecessor struck, without putting them through the long vetting that usually takes place, according to a report being released Monday.

Some of the refugees have tried to cleanse their social media presence to try to delete red flags that could cost them their chance to come to the U.S., the Center for Immigration Studies report concludes.

A staggering 88 percent of the refugees have some level of mental illness or disorder, according to a U.N. health inspection last year. And the centers report documents incidents of rape and sexual assault perpetrated by the refugees on locals.

Australia has been looking for a landing place for the refugees for years, and President Obama agreed to take them. Mr. Trump criticized the dumb deal in February, and shared a testy phone call with Australias prime minister, but has since relented and is moving quickly to welcome the refugees.

Usually processing refugees takes up to 24 months, but analysts said the process for this set is likely to be eight months, with the first due to arrive by late September.

The process is well underway, Nayla Rush, a senior policy analyst at the center, says in the report.

The refugees tried to reach Australia but were instead detoured to camps on Nauru and Manus Island north of Australia. The vast majority are Iranian one of the countries Mr. Trump has specifically singled out as a trouble spot in his extreme vetting policies. Others are from Sudan and Somalia, which are also on the list.

Australia says it has assurances the deal wont be affected by Mr. Trumps executive order attempting to halt refugee admissions and banning entry to most visitors from Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Libya.

Some 850 refugees have been identified by the U.N. as candidates for resettlement in the U.S., and American officials are now going through that list and doing their own review.

Homeland Security officials began interviews in May, with decisions on the first group of 70 people expected in weeks.

In exchange for the U.S. taking the refugees off its hands, Australia has committed to taking several dozen Central Americans who are in Costa Rica, hoping to make their way north to the U.S.

Ms. Rush said she can understand Australias thinking, but wondered what the Obama administration saw in the deal and why Mr. Trump, who was initially critical, has now reversed himself.

What is hard to comprehend is President Trumps agreement to move ahead with this deal, she wrote.

She said members of Congress have tried to pry loose more details on the refugee deal, without success.

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Trump moves to accept hundreds of refugees from Iran under Obama deal - Washington Times

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