Iran accuses U.S. of terror attack

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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened "crushing" retaliation against the United States and Pakistan for supporting a terrorist group in an attack on Iran and has accused Israeli intelligence of being behind the event, declaring that Iran "must pay (the Israelis) back to punish them," according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Major Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari's reaction came following the Oct. 18 assassination of a number of senior corps commanders by the Sunni Jundallah terrorist group that operates out of Pakistan but also has bases in Iran. The attack took place in eastern Iran in Sistan-Baluchistan. It killed 42 people including seven senior corps officers.

Jafari's allegations may not be unfounded, since there is information to suggest that the U.S. has supported the two Sunni terrorist groups Jundallah, or Army of God, and the Mujahedin-e Khalq, which is regarded as an Iranian exile group. Jundallah also is known as the People's Resistance Movement of Iran.

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One of the senior officers killed was Gen. Noor Ali Shushtari, the corps army deputy commander. He also is a senior officer in the corps' Quds Force which is the corps' foreign operations and intelligence entity.

Shushtari reportedly was in the area seeking a reconciliation meeting with Sunni leaders in the Iranian portion of Baluchistan, which also is formed by western Pakistan. Baluchistan is an area dominated by Sunni Islamist groups opposed to the Shiite regime in Iran.

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The attack came as the U.S., France and Russia were meeting at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna to consider an Iranian proposal to have its uranium enriched in Russia instead of Iran. The proposal remains under active consideration.

However, some security analysts believe the attack may have been planned to disrupt any such proposal. The issue of Iran's uranium-enrichment program has developed into a potential crisis, with threats especially from Israel that it is considering a military option to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

"We consider the recent terrorist attack to be the result of U.S. action," said Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani. "This is the sign of America's animosity against our country."

This latest attack in Sistan-Baluchistan is not Jundallah's first inside Iran. The first one was in 2005 when it attacked the motorcade of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while visiting Baluchistan. In March 2006, Jundallah killed some 22 people in Tasooki in Baluchistan and in February 2007 took responsibility for bombing a bus carrying corps soldiers, killing 11 of them.

The U.S. condemned the latest attack and denied any involvement in it. However, there are increasing indications that the Jundallah attack may have had at least the tacit backing of the U.S., Israel and Pakistan.

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The suggestion of support for Jundallah stems from previous information that the U.S. has backed the Jundallah terrorist group through the Central Intelligence Agency to supply weapons and possibly funding, according to security analysts.

General Mirza Aslam Baig, Pakistan's former army chief, said the U.S. actively supports Jundallah in an effort to destabilize Iran. Analysts say that Baig had firsthand knowledge since he was involved with the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate in creating the Taliban and Al-Qaida.

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