In a post on his Twitter account on Monday, Amirabdollahian offered his sympathy to the “friendly and brotherly” Turkish government and nation over the terrorist bombing in central Istanbul that has left at least eight people dead and scores of others wounded.

“We strongly condemn the terrorist act and the targeting of innocent people in Istanbul,” he stated.

The foreign minister also noted that terrorism is condemned and abhorrent wherever it may occur, be it in Istanbul’s Taksim, in Shah-e Cheragh shrine in Iran’s Shiraz, or anywhere else in the world.

The explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul on Sunday, in an incident that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labeled an attack that “smells like terrorism”.

The area, in the Beyoglu district of Turkey’s largest city, had been crowded as usual at the weekend with shoppers, tourists and families.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters on Monday that the suspect in custody was the “person who left the bomb that caused the explosion” on a busy thoroughfare in Turkey’s largest city.

Soylu blamed the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for Sunday’s blast on Istiklal Avenue, saying, “Our assessment is that the order for the deadly terror attack came from Ayn al-Arab in northern Syria,” where he said the group has its Syrian headquarters.