TEHRAN - Commenting on Ahvaz attack Prof. Entessar says U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia and UAE’s principal goal is to create chaos in Iran to disintegrate the country.

A terrorist attack during a military parade on people in Ahvaz, southwest Iran left tens of innocent civilians killed and injured.

Hours after the attack Saudi backed Al-ahvazi separatist terrorist group and ISIL claimed the responsibility for the terrorist attack.

To shed more light on the issue we reached out to Prof. Nader Entessar Emeritus of Political Science in University of South Alabama.

Following is the full text of his interview:

Q: Do you see any foreign elements behind this attack?

A: It is too early to identify the real culprits behind the recent terrorist attack in Ahvaz.  I hope that the appropriate authorities in Iran are taking this matter very seriously and conduct a thorough and professional investigation and eschew issuing contradictory and vacuous statements.  Once the investigation is completed, Iran must take swift and decisive action to respond to this heinous terrorist attack.  

Q: Saudi Arabia and UAE didn't condemn the terrorist attack. Why?  

A: These two countries have become sworn enemies of Iran in recent years, and by that, I don't mean just the Islamic Republic but the country of Iran.  Therefore, I was not surprised that they have not condemned the Ahvaz terrorist attack.  Besides, they may indeed be responsible for funding and organizing the terrorist attack.  Thus, they should not be expected to condemn it.

Q: How do you assess the U.S. administration's reaction to the attack which it did not explicitly call the action as a terrorist act?  

A: I did not expect the Trump administration to call the attack a terrorist act.  If you recall, a similar attack occurred last June when a group of Takfiris gunned down innocent Iranians in the Majlis area, the Trump administration seemed to be giddy about it and intimated that Iran had it coming to it.  No terrorist act against Iran will be called a terrorist act by the U.S. administration no matter how dastardly it may be.  

Q: What can be the real goal of the attack perpetrators at this time?

A: The Ahvaz terrorist attack should not be considered an isolated incident.  Here are two interconnected axes operating against Iran today.  One is the Washington axis and the other one is the Saudi Arabia-Israel-UAE axis.  Although they may pursue different tactics against Iran, they have one overall strategy towards Tehran.  Their principal goal is to create chaos in Iran and thus hasten the demise of the Iranian government and even the disintegration of the country.  In short, these two axes want to "Syrianize" Iran by any means necessary.  At times, they may focus on economic strangulation of the country, at other times they may organize terrorist attacks inside the country, while at other times they may rely on a combination of highlighting their soft war strategy with "hard war" tactics.