Posted on 10/06/2005 8:18:30 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
Top News Story
UK accuses Iran over killings of soldiers
Ewen MacAskill and Simon Tisdall and Richard Norton-Taylor
Thursday October 6, 2005
The Guardian
Britain and Iran clashed openly last night after a senior British official directly accused Tehran of supplying Iraqi insurgents with sophisticated roadside bombs that have killed eight British soldiers and two security guards since May.The bombs, triggered when an infra-red beam is touched, have created havoc among British forces in southern Iraq. They release a projectile capable of penetrating armoured vehicles, against which the British army has virtually no defence.
The British official said that Iranian interference in Iraq could be related to British pressure on Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons ambitions. "It would be entirely natural that they would want to send a message 'Don't mess with us'," he said. An Iranian government spokesman rejected the British accusations and said it was opposed to the insurgency in Iraq.
The confrontation marks a hardening of relations between London and Tehran. Since 1997 the Foreign Office has been energetically engaged in trying to improve ties. But relations took a turn for the worse in June with the election as president of the Iranian hardliner, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the rejection in September of a nuclear deal offered by Britain and supported by France and Germany. Iran threatened reprisals after the United Nations nuclear watchdog voted to refer Tehran to the UN security council for possible punitive sanctions. At last month's UN summit, Mr Ahmadinejad dismayed George Bush and Tony Blair with what they saw as a confrontational speech that dashed hopes of a nuclear deal.
In July three soldiers from the Staffordshire Regiment were killed by one of the devices while patrolling near the Iranian border. Five other British soldiers were killed by similar bombs this year, as well as two British security guards who were part of the diplomatic protection team.
The British official said the bombs were designed and manufactured by the Tehran-backed guerrilla group Hizbullah, based in Lebanon, and were channelled to Iraq via Iran. "Iran's motives certainly don't seem that benign. If Iran wants to tie down the coalition in Iraq, then that is consistent with supplying insurgent groups."
He said Iran was providing help not only to their co-religionist Shia insurgents but to Sunni insurgents too. "There is some evidence that Iranians are in contact with Sunni groups."
He specifically blamed the smuggling of the bombs to Iraq on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a military organisation which has traditionally directed Iran's links with insurgent groups in the Arab world and which is answerable to Iran's highest executive body, the national security council. It is chaired by Mr Ahmadinejad, a former commander of the IRGC who replaced the moderate, pro-western former president, Mohammad Khatami.
The Iranian spokesman flatly rejected the accusations: "The stability of Iraq is of paramount importance to Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always taken a position against insurgency and violence in Iraq," he said. "These claims have come after Iran raised her concern about possible British forces' support and links with some terrorist elements who crossed the Iranian border and were behind some explosions in the southern part of Iran." Similar Iranian assertions of British interference in Iran have been dismissed by Britain out of hand in the past.
The British official said there was little prospect of the insurgency, which is fiercest in the US-run Sunni Arab areas of Iraq, "dying away any time soon" and predicted a "spike" in violence in the run-up to an Iraqi referendum on the constitution on October 15 and parliamentary elections in December.
Britain has formally complained to Tehran over the supply of the bombs. The accusation yesterday is its most explicit charge yet of Iranian interference. In August, the British government highlighted the interception of a cache of conventional weapons being smuggled across the Iran-Iraq border. "We continue to press Iran on that and we continue to encourage the Iraqi government to do that," the official said.
Britain hopes to begin withdrawing some of its 8,000 troops next year, if security conditions permit.
There are differing views within the British intelligence community as to the level of Tehran's involvement. British military sources insisted last night there was no hard evidence that the explosives technology came from Iran. Defence sources suggested that blaming the IRGC for supplying the explosives technology was going too far. Other military officials said there was "so much expertise in Iraq" the bombs could have been made by former members of Saddam Hussein's security forces.
The difference in opinion may reflect concern on the part of the military that a sharpening confrontation with Iran could increase the chances of further attacks on British troops.
Violence continued in Iraq yesterday as a suicide bomber killed 13 people and wounded 40 at a mosque in Hilla, south of Baghdad. It appeared to be the latest in a series of attacks by Sunnis against Shias to try to provoke a civil war.
And finally, a cartoon and photos.
- Iran Press News reported on the first day of the trial of the Azadi Stadium defendants. The incident which took place on March 26th, 2005, after the end of the Iran/Japan Football (Soccer) match lead to the death of 7 spectators.
- Iran Press News reported that after 9 months of non-receipt of their wages, 620 mine workers intensified their protests against Sangrood Mines.
- Iran Press News reported that multi-national corporations investing in Iran will no longer be insured.
- Iran Press News reported that the governent is warning there will be a serious lack of fuel this winter in Iran, affecting power plants.
- Iran Press News reported on the 3rd day of a sit-in by Fine Arts students protesting the issuance of suspension of two university terms of two of the fellow classmates.
- Iran Press News reported a computer game company has designed a new game entitled "Attack the Rule of the Mullahs."
- Iran Press News reported that Massoumeh Babapour, a woman journalist, who disappeared on Monday, has been found, left for dead by her kidnappers having been stabbed 9 times.
- Iran Press News reported that a branch of the revolutionary court in the town of Sanandadj has issued a bail agreement in the amount of $10,000 each for two journalists.
- The Telegraph UK reported that a British diplomat detailed how Iran's Revolutionary Guards were helping to arm not only their Shia co-religionists but also the Sunni extremists who are killing ordinary Shias.
- India Express reported that South Africa has put forth a proposal to end the standoff with Iran on their nuclear program.
- BBC News reported that talks between Iranian and Saudi Arabian officials been postponed.
- Yahoo News reported that Iran's new uncompromising stance over their nuclear program is worrying some Iranian officials and leading to overt criticism.
- IranMania reported that Turkey stopped the flow of natural gas from neighboring Iran after an explosion.
- Reuters reported that Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew said they will put forward a resolution in the United Nations shortly accusing Iran of human rights violations. Faster please.
- Interactive Investor reported that one of Iran's most prominent diplomats, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has resigned as a member of the country's nuclear negotiating team.
- Lebanese Lobby reported that a well known minister in the Turkish parliament revealed that Steven Hadley, the American National Security advisor reported to the Turkish officials in his latest visit to Ankara, that Washington wants to use the "Angelink" air base, in its operations to get rid of the Syrian regime. Hmmmm.
- Arash Motamed, Rooz Online provided valuable insight into Iranian thought on their current nuclear crises. I recommend it.
- Farnaz Ghazizadeh, Rooz Online discussed the problems of fighting economic corruption and Iranian Officials. 704 cases of abuse of power and government posts have been finalized and 395 other files are under review.
- Yahoo News reported that Iran could run out of oil reserves in nine decades.
- RoozOnline published a cartoon: Rafsanjani is always No 2 in Islamic Republic.
- Iranian Student News Agency published photos of another anti-riot exercise by IRGC Special Units.
- Winston, The Spirit of Man published a photo of another fake demonstration: Students, Students... We Support You!
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