Who's Bombing Iran?
From the Economic Times of India: "Bomb blasts rock Iran".
Bomb blasts struck Iranian government buildings in the capital of an oil-rich border province, followed within hours by two other bombs in central Tehran, killing nine people, days before presidential elections.
According to the article and other sources, a car bomb was set off outside the Governor's office in Ahvaz, the capital of the Arab-majority province of Khuzestan in southwestern Iran. Additionally, multiple bombs went off in the city's Housing and Planning departments, and a fourth bomb was discovered in a handbag outside the home of the head of the regional TV and radio stations. According to Radio Free Europe and other sources, two bombs also went off about the same time to the north, in Tehran, the nation's capital.
The national government is blaming pro-Saddam Baathists that allegedly entered Iran from the Basra region of Iraq. Local (to Ahvaz) authorities are blaming pro-Arab protestors angry over plans to relocate more Persians to the region in an attempt to eliminate the local majority of Arabs. (Iran is largely a Persian nation, with only a minority of Arabs overall.)
I haven't heard anything from my own scant contacts in the Iranian pro-democracy movement to indicate that there is a direct connection between these seemingly well-coordinated bombings and the upcoming national sham elections being run by the religious council there. As far as I know, the people I know there are not supportive of terrorist methods of revolution.
I also cannot confirm any connection between the timing of the bombings and the protest against gender-apartheid planned for yesterday, 5pm local time, in Tehran, in which Iranian women were planning on gathering and removing required veils as an act of defiance. I'm not even certain if that rally went off as planned, at all.
Folks, I'd like to relaunch the Iranian Liberty Index, but I can't run the operation on my own. I'm looking for possible contributors, and I'm looking at a couple of different editorial and technological means of making contributions possible. Anyone interested, can drop me a comment via this site, or directly via email.