Downing St: Iranian president's bombing claims 'ludicrous'
Downing Street today dismissed claims by Iran’s president that the UK was implicated in two bombings in the south of his country.
President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad was quoted on Iranian state television as saying that “the occupiers of Iraq” – the UK and US – were responsible for the attacks yesterday in the city of Ahvaz.
In a statement, Number 10 said his allegation was “ludicrous” and should be treated “with scorn” by the international community.
Local police said at least nine people were killed and 46 wounded in the blasts, inside a bank and outside a state environmental agency building in the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq.
Iranian state TV reported that Mr Ahmadinejad had issued a decree ordering his foreign minister and intelligence minister to investigate the possibility that “foreign hands” might have been responsible for the explosions.
But a 10 Downing Street spokesman said: “The Iranian Government’s suggestion that we somehow had a hand in yesterday’s bomb attacks in southern Iran is obviously ludicrous and deserves to be treated with scorn by the whole international community.
“Of course, we condemn yesterday’s attacks. There can never be any excuse for terrorism.
“But putting the blame on us rather than the terrorists responsible underlines why there is such widespread international concern about this Iranian government, especially coming after its repugnant statements on Israel and the Holocaust.”
Ahvaz has a history of violence involving members of Iran’s Arab minority. Bombings in the city in June and October last year killed a total of 14 people. In April, residents rioted for two days over claims – denied by the Government - that the state was planning to reduce the number of Arabs in the area.
Iran has repeatedly accused Britain of provoking unrest in the region.
