The latest statement issued by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence about its findings regarding the arrest of the “terrorist network” responsible for the bombing in Shiraz in April carries multiple assertions about multiple perpetrators.
First of all it stresses the American nature of the network. “This work of this network was supervised directly by American agents … American centers even had prepared underwater training for the identification of oil pipelines on the Persian Gulf sea bed,” the statement read.
At the same time, the statement also links the terrorist network to Israel. “In this regard, credible documents about specific American and Israeli centers, and their cooperation with anti-Iranian terrorist organizations have also been obtained by the Ministry of Intelligence.”
In another part of the statement, Britain is also given a role in the bombing. “It is clear that as this investigation continues to its conclusion, diplomatic and international law measures will be taken by appropriate (government) agencies against the US and Britain.”
Furthermore, the Ministry of Intelligence also talks about a connection between the network that carried out the bombing and Iranian terrorist groups. “Credible documents about their cooperation with anti-Iranian terrorist groups have been obtained by the Ministry of Intelligence.” (Because the only armed groups that have been engaged in bombings against Iran are either the Mojaheddin Khalq organization or the extremist Vahabi/Salafi groups, the reader is drawn to conclude that one of them was involved in the Shiraz incident.)
At the same time, the Ministry of Intelligence pointed out that the terrorist group or groups were anti-religious. “This group formally adheres to an anti-religious stand.” (And since both the Mohajeddin and the Vahabi/Salafi groups proclaim a fundamental religious ideology, the reader is made to believe that the incident was not their work.)
One should note that this information is being released at a time when Iran’s Ministry of Interior had spoken of the involvement of “royalists” in the Shiraz bombing. The recent announcement of the arrest of Bahai community leaders in Iran indicates that quiet possibly they too would be accused of being members of the “network” that the Ministry of Intelligence claims carried out the Shiraz bombing.
So in view of the announcements made by the security apparatus of Iran about the terrorist network that was behind the Shiraz bombing, one is to conclude that the United States, Israel, Britain, Iranian terrorist groups (religious and non-religious) and royalists (and possibly even the Bahais) were all involved in the event!
There is no doubt that the state sponsored terrorist activities overseas are completely intelligence-based and are carried out by covert groups. One aspect of such operations is that they remain absolutely and completely secret. Even states that have the closest of relations hide their secret armed networks from each other and in no way share information about their activities.
In Iran, when the perpetrators of the serial murders of Iranian intellectuals were arrested in 1999 and Iran’s judiciary spoke of their affiliations with other countries, many specialists initially accepted this view. But as the details of the murders and cover-ups became public, and as Saeed Imami (the leading defendant in the case) was accused of working with the CIA, having cooperated with Mossad, having worked with the FBI when he was a student in the United States, having Bahai roots, having gay tendencies, etc, it was clear to everyone that the announcements that were made by those responsible for the case were not to be taken seriously.
The recent “terrorist network” find of the Ministry of Intelligence seems to follow the same path. The reality is that it is not inconceivable to assume that there may be foreign support for terrorist acts that take place inside Iran. But to believe that such operations involve secret services of the United States, Britain, and Israel, and at the same time Iranian terrorist groups, all working together, sounds more like a tale.
Such extensive inter-working is not only against the basic principals of preparing and implementing secret missions, it is also out of line with the alphabet of protecting “operational intelligence” of these secret agencies as they never share such extensive cooperation and among such variant participants.
One would hope that senior intelligence officials of Iran, who had initially announced that the Shiraz bombing was not an act of terrorism and that they would publish false information if the need be, would understand the dangers that such security tales bring to the national security of the country.
