Tell Tehran

Iranians could be behind the bombing of the diplomats car,its time to lean hard on a friend

Iranians could be behind the bombing of the diplomats car,its time to lean hard on a friend

The bomb attack on an Israeli diplomats car in New Delhi last month was disturbing for two reasons. As Israel promptly accused Iran and Iran issued its denial,India found itself at the unenviable diplomatic discomfort of being caught between two mutually hostile friends. Yet,although Delhi was careful not to blame anybody immediately and resisted the Israeli request to support a UN Security Council resolution condemning Iran for the near simultaneous incidents in Delhi,Bangkok and Tbilisi,it was imperative for India to solve the case quickly and bring the plotters to book. Since then,the Delhi police claim to have identified the conspirators,with help from Thai authorities and the interrogation of Syed Mohammed Ahmad Kazmi,the Indian journalist who allegedly provided logistical support to the suspects and is in custody.

The investigations appear to have identified three individuals Syed Ali Sadr Mahdian,Houshang Afshar Irani and Abolghasemi Mohammad Reza against whom Interpol has issued Red Corner notices,along with one against Masoud Sedaghatzadeh,arrested by the Malaysian police on the CBIs request and suspected to be the head of the module. All four are Iranians. Even as Delhi walks the diplomatic tightrope,it has to wake up to the expanding concentric circles of the Middle Easts conflicts,compounded now by three faultlines: West-Iran,Israel-Iran,Arab-Iran. Indias western security perimeter has extended into the Middle East,and the February attack was its first proof. As Iran faces sanctions for its nuclear programme,India has been a friend much to the discomfort of its Western allies. So now that there is evidence that those who were part of the alleged plot had Iranian passports,New Delhi may not be able to sit on the fence. If DMK pressure got India to censure Sri Lanka on human rights,surely this is a fit case for clearly telling Tehran to exercise more vigilance of its own,track down the suspects and help bring them to trial.