Khamenei shrugs off 'fire-cracker' attacks

Iran's supreme leader shrugged off attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers in Tehran on Wednesday that killed 17 people as US president Donald Trump warned the nation was reaping what it sowed.

The assault was the first claimed by the Islamic State group in Iran, and was the worst terror strike to hit the nation in years.

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"These fire-crackers that happened today will not have the slightest effect on the will of the people," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said after the twin attacks, which also left dozens injured.

The 5 attackers struck at Iran's most potent symbols: its parliament complex in central Tehran and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led the 1979 Islamic revolution.

While Trump expressed sympathy for the victims he levelled a barbed warning at Iran, after the US leader took a hard line on the nation during a recent Middle East visit.

"We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote," he said in a short statement.

That was condemned by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who tweeted: "Repugnant WH (White House) statement... as Iranians counter terror backed by US clients."

Tehran defence ministry  yesterday said that the five Iranians were Islamic State group members who had been to its strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

"The five known terrorists... after joining the Daesh (IS) terrorist group, left the country and participated in crimes carried out by this terrorist group in Mosul and Raqa," the defence ministry said in a statement.

It suggested there were only five attackers rather than the six originally reported.

The ministry released their photographs and first names, and said they were part of a network that entered Iran in July-August 2016 under the leadership of "high-ranking Daesh commander" Abu Aisha intending to carry out "terrorist operations in religious cities".

Abu Aisha was killed and the network forced to flee the country, the statement said. It was not clear when the five men returned to Iran ahead of Wednesday's attacks.

The Sunni jihadists of IS consider Shia Iran to be apostates, and Tehran is deeply involved in fighting the group in both Syria and Iraq.

Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani called for global unity against violent extremism.