Bombings in Iran

Middle East Online:

Iran's Islamic regime on Monday pointed the finger at Arab separatists, possibly backed by US and British forces in Iraq, for a string of deadly pre-presidential election bombings. The interior ministry said outgoing President Mohammad Khatami had mobilised the country's vast security apparatus to track down the perpetrators, with a top judicial official vowing they will be executed. 'The people behind these bombing must be pan-Arabists who are based outside Iran,' said Ali Hadad, an aide to the governor of Ahvaz. Official media said eight people were killed and 75 others wounded Sunday in a series of four blasts outside public buildings in Ahvaz, capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province and an ethnic Arab majority city close to the Iraqi border. Hadad said the toll was six dead and 90 injured.

It is of course difficult to know for sure what is going on, but I am not very happy with these tactics. There is a time when violent revolution is justified, and Iran may well be there, but bombs that target reletively innocent civilians is not the proper method. I do wonder though, if these terrorists are 'pan-Arabists' and the regime is saying or revolutionaries who mostly foces on their dislike of the current regime without having a pan-Arabist influence. Certainly, it would benefit the Iranian regime if public perception of these people were to be as pan-Arabists. Regardless, while I hope for reform, and would certainly understand revolution in Iran, I do not think that anything good can come out of these methods.