What’s the bigger news here? That Iran’s willing to make an accusation this incendiary while The One’s trying to warm up to them with nuke talks? Or that there’s a very, very, very slim chance that … they might be right?
“We consider the recent terrorist attack to be the result of US action. This is the sign of America’s animosity against our country,” [Parliamentary speaker Ali] Larijani said.
“Mr. Obama has said he will extend his hand towards Iran, but with this terrorist action he has burned his hand,” he said referring to US President Barack Obama’s repeated diplomatic overtures to Tehran.
The Guards said foreign powers were behind the attack.
“The world arrogance, by provoking its lackeys and mercenaries in the region, carried out a terrorist attack on a popular meeting between the Guards and tribesmen,” the Guards said in a statement carried by local media.
Iranian officials and several government bodies term Western powers, including the United States, as “world arrogance.”
Larijani’s a protege of Khamenei himself so it’s safe to assume he tossed this grenade with the supreme leader’s blessing. There’s actually no mystery as to who’s responsible for the bombing, though: It’s Jundullah, a Sunni jihadist outfit in the southeastern part of the country that’s been killing Revolutionary Guardsmen and Iranian cops in fits and starts for the past four years. In light of that history, it’s mind-boggling that the Guard not only would have let so many senior officers congregate in the area but that security would have been so lax as to let a bomber end up practically right next to them. Sure smells like an inside job. As for that very, very slim chance, remember this old ABC News bombshell? April 3, 2007:
A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.
The group, called Jundullah, is made up of members of the Baluchi tribe and operates out of the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, just across the border from Iran…
U.S. officials say the U.S. relationship with Jundullah is arranged so that the U.S. provides no funding to the group, which would require an official presidential order or “finding” as well as congressional oversight.
Tribal sources tell ABC News that money for Jundullah is funneled to its youthful leader, Abd el Malik Regi, through Iranian exiles who have connections with European and Gulf states.
Eh, I’m skeptical. Not only would a covert op like that be distinctly un-Hopenchange-y, but what do we gain from picking off a few Guard commanders? It does nothing to solve the nuclear problem and antagonizes Iran at a moment when Obama’s trying to get them to come to the table. Plus, given America’s track record with supporting the mujahedeen against a common enemy, if U.S. support for Jundullah were somehow proven, it’d be a PR nightmare for The One. Too many costs, too few benefits. Exit question: Will Iran use this as a pretext to walk away from nuke negotiations?
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