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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty-RFE/RL Iran
Report
SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN IRANIAN ASSASSINATION
PLOT. Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam satellite television reported on March
20 that Iranian security personnel have arrested an unspecified number of
people suspected of planning assassinations in the southwestern city of
Ahvaz. The suspects reportedly were carrying "advanced weapons equipped with
silencers and laser equipment normally used in assassinations, some of which
are made in Britain." Unrest in southwestern Iran has been continuing for
about a year, and Iranian officials have repeatedly claimed that Great
Britain is involved with such incidents.
Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Musavi-Jazayeri, the Friday-prayer leader in Ahvaz,
said in his March 17 sermon that the United States is behind efforts to
cause ethnic unrest and political divisions in Iran, Khuzestan Province
television reported on March 18. "Admitting that it has failed in
confronting the Islamic system, the arrogance, including America, has begun
a policy of creating division among the political elite and inciting ethnic
groups." These U.S. efforts, he continued, will fail because "all ethnic
groups in Iran enjoy equality and fraternity and there is no division among
them." Referring to the U.S. allocation of funding for democracy promotion
in Iran, he said, "The policies of America, which are designed by the
Zionists, have always failed, because of our nation's iron will." (Bill
Samii)
BALUCHIS CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR SOUTHEASTERN SHOOT-OUT. More than 20
people were killed and another seven were injured when a motorcade traveling
between the Sistan va Baluchistan Province cities of Zahedan and Zabol was
ambushed late on March 16, Iranian news agencies reported on March 17.
Another 12 people are missing.
Zahedan parliamentary representative Peyman Foruzesh said the attackers were
Afghan "bandits," and he added that they were trained by U.S. and other
foreign forces, Mehr News Agency reported.
National police chief Brigadier General Ismail
Ahmadi-Moqaddam connected the attackers with the United States and Britain
and said they are trying to cause Shi'ite-Sunni strife, state television
reported. "The armed bandits filmed the scene of the killings...using a full
video camera kit and this film will probably be broadcast by the foreign
media in the next few days," Fars News Agency quoted Ahmadi-Moqaddam as
saying the next day. He added that the attackers stopped the motorcade and
separated the ethnic Baluchis from the ethnic "Fars" (Persians) before
killing the Persians.
Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr said the attackers have
escaped to Pakistan and Afghanistan, IRNA reported on March 18.
Interior Minister Mustafa Pur-Mohammadi said on March 18 that the people
behind this attack are also behind unrest in southwestern Khuzestan
Province, Mehr reported.
Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hussein Elham said on March 18 that such
incidents "have always been sponsored by foreigners," IRNA reported.
Jundullah, an Iranian Baluchi group that held a number of Iranian security
personnel hostage earlier this year, released on March 21 a video in which
it claimed responsibility for the ambush, Al-Jazeera satellite television
reported. Jundullah said it is holding seven people, whom it accuses of
serving in the Iranian military and intelligence forces and with the
country's Red Crescent Society. The captors are demanding the release of
five of their comrades.
Police chief Ahmadi-Moqaddam said on March 22 that the individuals
responsible for ambushing the motorcade have been identified, Fars News
Agency reported. Ahmadi-Moqaddam said the attackers are hiding out in an
area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and information on the attackers has
been conveyed to Kabul and Islamabad through Interpol. However, there is
little central government control in the region, and the two governments
have informed Tehran that they cannot apprehend the suspects. (Bill Samii)
IRAN PROTESTS AZERBAIJANI ACTIVIST'S STATEMENT. Iranian Ambassador to
Azerbaijan Afshar Suleimani handed a protest note on March 17 to the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry in connection with a statement made the
previous day at the Second World Congress of Azerbaijanis in Baku by the
chairman of that body, Djavad Derekhti, day.az and RFE/RL's Azerbaijani
Service reported. Derekhti condemned Iran's policy toward its sizeable Azeri
minority and said the Azerbaijan Republic and so-called Southern Azerbaijan,
meaning predominantly Azeri-populated regions of Iran, constitute a single
country with a population of 50 million. Suleimani said it was inappropriate
to make such a statement at a gathering attended by Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev. The protest note further made the point that Derekhti's
statement violated Azerbaijan's obligations stemming from the bilateral
Treaty on Friendly Relations and Cooperation signed in May 2002. On March
18, the conservative wing of the divided Azerbaijan Popular Front Party
convened a demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in Baku to demand that
Suleimani be declared persona non grata and that Iran provide its
Azerbaijani minority with education at all levels in the Azeri language,
day.az reported. (Liz Fuller)
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