Another blow to the Kremlin’s version of the Moscow attack: Iran had warned Russia days before the massacre after interrogating an ISIS-K commander

Iran notified Russia of the possibility of a major “terrorist operation” on its territory before the attack at the Crocus concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

In this attack, which took place on March 22, the worst on Russian soil in the last two decades, several gunmen opened fire on concertgoers, killing at least 144 people.

After the attack, the Kremlin launched a “blame it on the Ukrainians” type operation. In political messages and on TV, Russia has blamed Kiev and refuses to accept ISIS’ involvement in the Moscow attack. According to sources, however, Putin’s allies do not actually believe that Ukraine is involved in the attack in Moscow and are shocked by the failure of the security services.

Iran warned Russia days before the attack

“A few days after the attack in Russia, Tehran provided Moscow with information about a possible major terrorist attack inside Russia obtained during interrogations among those arrested after the deadly bombings in Iran,” one of the sources told Reuters.

Iran’s intelligence ministry said in January it had arrested 35 people in connection with the twin explosions on January 3 in Kerman that killed nearly 100 people. It should be noted that the United States had also warned Iran before the Kerman attack. Despite this, Tehran accused Israel and the United States of being behind the twin bombings.

On January 19, Iran’s intelligence ministry said it had arrested a commander of ISIS-Khorasan, the terrorist group’s Afghanistan branch. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in Iran, the deadliest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

US intelligence sources said ISIS-K carried out both the January 3 attacks in Iran and the one in Moscow. Another source told Reuters that the information Tehran provided to Moscow about an imminent attack also did not include details on the exact date or the intended target.

ISIS-K members had been preparing for a major operation in Russia

“They (ISIS-K members) had been trained to prepare for a significant operation in Russia. One of the terrorists (arrested in Iran) said that some of the group’s members had already gone to Russia,” the second source told Reuters.

The third source, a senior security official, said that, “as Iran has been a victim of terrorist attacks for years, the Iranian authorities fulfilled their obligation to alert Moscow based on information obtained by to those arrested terrorists”.

A source with knowledge of the information the Americans had about an imminent attack in Russia said that this information was based on the interception of communications among ISIS-K militants.

Russia has refused to confirm the US claims, saying Ukraine was linked to the Moscow attack without providing any evidence. Kiev has vehemently and repeatedly denied this hypothesis.

It is harder, however, for Russia to ignore information about the attack received from its diplomatic ally Iran, which raises questions about the effectiveness of Russian security services, Reuters notes.