Today's Iran's intelligence chief accused the U.S. and the Britain of sponsoring the bombing of a mosque in Shiraz in April. "The blast ... was caused by a bombing by a terrorist group with links to Western countries, especially Britain and America," said Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Iran's Intelligence Minister.
The bombing, which killed 14 Iranians and wounded more than 100, occurred as a cleric was "delivering his weekly speech against extremist Wahabi beliefs and the outlawed Bahai faith," according to the pro-government Fars News Agency. Last month, however, Iran denied the explosion was the result of a bombing. The deputy interior minister said at the time that the explosion was "the result of an incident." Officials said that ammunition that was recently on display in the mosque spontaneously exploded.
So what caused the Iranians to change their story? The accusations came just as a British court ruled that Britain's designation of the People's Mujahadeen Organization, or MEK, as a terrorist group was inappropriate, and the MEK should be removed from the list. The MEK has provided the U.S. and Britain with valuable and accurate intelligence on Iran's nuclear program as well as Iran's terror activities inside Iraq. The U.S. State Department still lists MEK as a terrorist organization, but members of the U.S. Congress and other government officials also seek to have MEK removed from the terrorist watch list.
