Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Comments on the bomb explosions targeting Iranian elections.

The intent of the bombing is to keep the people of Iran from voting which is the aim of the U.S. backed opposition groups.

Iranian state radio commented on 12 April that Washington already supports "isolated and rejected groups or elements" but that this only leads to embarrassment for the United States or these groups. It added that not only have U.S. efforts to cause "anarchy and domestic unrest" in Iran over the last 20 years failed, but they have in fact caused "increased public anger and hatred against America." The commentary concluded: "It seems that the American officials have thrown themselves in a fatal abyss by financing opposition Iranian groups."
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June 03, 2005
Paris (CNSNews.com) - Two weeks ahead of Iran's presidential elections, the exiled son of the deposed Shah is urging a boycott of the poll, saying Iranians should send a clear message to the world that the regime has no political legitimacy and is ready for a change.

Addressing a press conference in Paris Thursday, Reza Pahlavi said most Iranian opposition groups have declared their intent to boycott the June 17 election.

Pahlavi, who has lived in the U.S. since his father was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=%5CForeignBureaus%5Carchive%5C200506%5CFOR2005060....

The bombings took place in Ahvaz where ‘some foreign agents’, think U.S., were accused of being behind a previous riot.

On April 15, a letter, which was said to be written by Iran'sformer vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi to promote a coercive migration of Arabs in the southwestern province of Khuzestan,touched off riots in the provincial capital of Ahvaz.

Iran disclaimed the letter and reined in the unrest, claiming "some foreign agents" were behind the incident.

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on April 11 that Washington had earmarked 3 million US dollars to "promote democracy in Iran," a move criticized by Tehran as "interfering in Iran's internal affairs."
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-Am

Bomb Explosions Target Iranian Elections

Updated 9:51 AM ET June 12, 2005


TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Four bombs exploded in the capital of an oil-rich province on the Iranian border with Iraq on Sunday, killing at least eight people and wounding at least 36 in the deadliest explosions in the nation in more than a decade, state-run television reported.

At least four women were among those killed in the explosions in Ahvaz, capital of the southwestern Khuzestan province. At least two of the explosions were caused by car bombs, witnesses said.

Gholamreza Shariati, deputy provincial governor for security affairs, said the bombers were seeking to undermine public participation in Friday's presidential elections.

Television pictures showed the blast sites with heavily damaged buildings and blood on the ground. The force of the explosions also damaged cars in the streets. Shariati said 36 people, including eight police officers, were injured.

After the first three blasts, disposal experts tried to defuse a fourth bomb but failed, and it exploded, injuring one officer.

Amir Hossein Motahar, director of security at the Interior Ministry, said one bomb went off in front of the Ahvaz governor's office and another next to the city's housing department.

The third bomb blew up in front of the residence of the head of the provincial radio and television station, he said. The fourth bomb was placed near the same residence.

Shariati said intelligence and security officials were investigating the bombings, which targeted "Iran's territorial integrity as it was on the verge of presidential elections."

Ahvaz was the site of two days of violent demonstrations in April after reports circulated of an alleged plan to decrease the proportion of Arabs in the area. Officials at the time confirmed one death but opposition groups said more than 20 demonstrators had been killed. Some 250 were arrested.

The protests were sparked after copies of a letter allegedly signed by Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi circulated in the area. The letter ordered the relocation of non-Arabs to the Ahvaz to make them the majority population. Abtahi denied writing the letter.

Arabs make up about 3 percent of Iran's population of 69 million, Persians account for 51 percent and other minorities comprise the remainder.

Bomb explosions have been a rare occurrence in Iran since the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.


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