Gunmen opened fire on a military parade in Iran on Saturday, killing 24 people including elite Revolutionary Guard troops, in one of the deadliest attacks in the country in recent years. Four assailants targeted a stand where Iranian officials had gathered to watch an annual event in the southwestern city of Ahvaz marking the start of the Islamic Republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq. There were reports they were dressed in Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) uniforms. A pan-Arab, anti-government group called the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz appeared to take responsibility for the attack, which wounded more than 50 people. Among the dead were eight IRGC servicemen, as well as women and children. Islamic State also later claimed it, but Iranian authorities deemed it not to be credible. At least 24 troops were killed on September 22 in an attack on a military parade in the southwestern province of Khuzestan Credit: AFP Ahvaz is in the centre of Khuzestan province, where there have been sporadic protests by the Sunni Arab minority in predominantly Shia Iran. Such attacks are relatively rare in Iran. However, tensions between mainly Shia Iran and mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia have surged in recent years, with the two countries supporting opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon. A photojournalist takes a photo as she hits the ground after an armed attack targeting a military march Credit: Getty The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) play a major role in Iran's regional interests in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Mohammed Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, said the assault was the handiwork of "regional terror sponsors". “Terrorists recruited, trained, armed and paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz,” he tweeted. “Children and journos among casualties. Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks.” Iranian soldier carrying an injured comrade at the scene of an attack on a military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz Credit: AFP The brazen attack appeared to be a direct attack on the Revolutionary Guards – the most powerful and heavily armed military force in the Islamic Republic. The IRGC have been the sword and shield of Shia clerical rule since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Guards also play a major role in Iran's regional interests in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, a spokesman for the guards, said that the attack was launched to “overshadow the greatness of the armed forces parades [across the country]”.  Injured soldiers lying on the ground Credit: AFP It also came as Tehran faces growing US pressure. President Donald Trump decided in May to pull the US out of the 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran and reimpose sanctions in a bid to isolate the Iran. Washington has said it is ready to open talks on a new agreement to replace the accord, but Tehran has said repeatedly it cannot negotiate under the pressure of the sanctions. A Revolutionary Guard member carries a wounded boy after a shooting during a military parade Credit: AP Mr Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, will both be in New York next week for the United Nations General Assembly. But Iran has repeatedly ruled out any meeting, which the US president has said he will chair.

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