The session was held in Tehran on Tuesday for the ringleader of the US-based terror group, with 120 petitioners against the government in Washington for its support of the outlet’s terrorist activities. 

Judge Hossein Zadeh said the session was held to shed light on the charges against Sharmahd, who planned and orchestrated terrorist acts against Iran, including an attack on a mosque in Shiraz in Fars Province in 2008, which martyred 14 pilgrims and wounded 215 others.

Sharmahd, who holds German citizenship and used to reside in the US, personally planned and directed the terror attack.

A lawyer of the victims’ families lashed out at the United States for supporting the terror group, adding Iran’s calls on the Interpol to dismantle the terrorist outfit have been ignored several times.

Another lawyer stated that Washington provided financial support for the terrorist group and paid huge sums of money to their agents in Iran.

At the end of the court session, Judge Hossein Zadeh said all defendants who are abroad have been officially summoned, but they, including the US government and authorities, have neither responded nor introduce a lawyer.

“Therefore, the court has convened according to the regulations and after examining the evidence, will make an appropriate decision,” he concluded.

Back in mid-February, a court in Iran handed down death sentence to Sharmahd on conviction for masterminding terror actions inside the country. The Iranian court ruled that the 68 year-old Iranian national has been involved in plots to carry out 23 terrorist attacks and had managed to implement five cases.

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced that the terrorist group had planned to carry out other large-scale operations, like blowing up several places, including Sivand Dam in Shiraz, Mausoleum of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini in Southern Tehran and Tehran International Book Fair, which were all foiled.

Tehran says the US must be held accountable for "supporting this terrorist grouplet (Tondar) and other [terrorist] outfits as well as criminals that lead sabotage, armed and terrorist operations from within the United States against the Iranian people" and shed the blood of Iranians.