File Photo: Ambulances park in front of the Imam Sadiq Mosque after a bomb explosion following Friday prayers, in the Al Sawaber area of Kuwait City on June 26, 2015. (Reuters)
Two of the victims in the jihadist attack at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait were Iranian nationals, Iran said today after condemning the atrocity and others in Tunisia and France.
"Sadly, two of our compatriots who were residents of Kuwait were martyred in the terrorist-suicide attack" on Al-Imam Al-Sadeq Mosque, Iran's foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told the official IRNA news agency.
She said "News of the deaths was based on received reports, and confirmed by official sources at Iran's embassy" in the Gulf state.
A suicide bomber struck the mosque on Friday, killing 26 in the capital Kuwait City during noon prayers.
Afkham did not mention if the Iranian victims would be repatriated. Kuwait said it would hold a mass funeral for the victims on Saturday.
The attack was part of an international Islamist assault on Friday: a gunman shot dozens of Western, mostly British, tourists at a beach resort in Tunisia and in France, a lone killer beheaded his boss then pinned the decapitated head to the gates of a factory.
The Islamic State group claimed the atrocities in Tunisia and Kuwait, just days before the first anniversary of it declaring a 'caliphate' in Iraq and Syria.
"These terrorist acts are contrary to the teachings of Islam," Afkham said in remarks released Saturday by the foreign ministry in Tehran.
The attack at a Tunisian hotel killed 38 people.
"That incident was aimed at defacing Islam's image," Afkham said, urging governments of Muslim countries to "take effective measures against acts of terrorism that harm the image and unity of the Muslim world."
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also condemned the "barbarous" attack in Kuwait.
In a telephone conversation with his Kuwaiti counterpart, Zarif said "Such acts were one of the key threats against countries in the region".