Back to Brief on Iran
BAGHDAD - An Iranian rebel group has said two bombs exploded near its headquarters in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, causing material damage.
The Mujahedeen Khalq Organization, an exiled Iranian dissident group seeking to overthrow the Iranian regime, said in a statement today that the bombs blew up late Saturday, but no one was hurt.
The group blamed the bombings, which it said were aimed at its headquarters, on "terrorists belonging to the Iranian regime."
Mujahedeen Khalq said two cars belonging to Iraqis were destroyed in the explosions.
The opposition group claimed that the "terrorists could not come near our offices, and that's why they planted the bombs in a nearby road that is surrounded by 5 hospitals."
The group accused "Iranian agents of launching terrorist acts against us on all levels and through all means," and vowed to strike back at the Iranian regime "in self defense."
It said Saturday's bomb attack was
the 23rd since Mohammad Khatami was elected president two years ago, and
the 74th since 1993.
Resistance Group Says Iran Attacks Baghdad Office, Reuters, June 6
BAGHDAD - The armed Iranian opposition group Mujahideen Khalq said on Sunday that two bombs had exploded near its headquarters in Baghdad, damaging civilian cars but causing no casualties.
It said in a statement that Iranian "terrorists" had detonated the bombs late on Saturday, frightening patients at nearby hospitals.
"There were two separate bomb blasts near the Mujahideen's central office in Baghdad. They...did not harm any of the Mujahideen nor did they inflict any damage on its facilities," the statement said.
It also blamed the Islamic republic's embassy in Baghdad for planning the blasts at its Baghdad office, which is ringed by a concrete wall and has survived several Iranian mortar and bomb attacks.
[In statement released today, the People's
Mojahedin of Iran emphasized "their legitimate right to respond and self
defense and call for the prosecution and punishment of the terrorists by
the Iraqi government. They urge the United Nations Security Council to
condemn the clerical regime's terrorist crimes."]
Stern Rebuke for Khatami's Faction, Agence France Presse, June 4
TEHRAN - Iran's supreme leader delivered a stern rebuke to rival faction Friday in a keynote speech marking the 10th anniversary of the death of the regime's founder, Ruhollah Khomeini.
"We don't need any lessons about freedom from political upstarts," Khomeini's successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
"Imam Khomeini launched a revolution in order to apply the laws of the Koran" … but "now a group of upstarts wants to teach the Imam and the Islamic system how to practice freedom of thought and expression," he said.
Khamenei urged Khatami's government to "pay greater attention to the economic problems of the country and the well-being of the population."
In his anniversary speech at Khomeini's shrine on Thursday evening Khatami also clearly alluded to the mounting rift within the regime.
"Rather than bracing for head-on ideological collisions, the people and supporters of the Islamic revolution should strive to behave in line with the proprieties set for them by Imam Khomeini," the reformist president said.
Khomeini's disciples were anxious that the event serve as a sign of the durability of the Islamic revolution under the leadership of the Shiite Moslem clergy 20 years after the overthrow of the shah.
Mourners chanted "down with the US," "Down with Israel" and "Down with corrupt western culture."
[According to a report by Reuters from Tehran, the mullahs' leader also said: "Those who dream that our people are turning away from Islam and the revolution are, as before, in for big disappointment and a blow in the mouth."
[Khamenei, who has the ultimate say
in Iran's political, religious and military affairs, vowed to pursue the
guidelines set by his predecessor -- such as primacy of Islam, "antagonizing
the enemy," and supporting the economic underdog as well as Islamic movements.]
Quake Hits Northwestern Iran Province, Reuters, June 4
TEHRAN - An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale struck parts of the Erdebil province in northwestern Iran on Friday, the state IRNA news agency reported.
IRNA said there was no word yet on possible casualties or damage.