Iran busts CIA terror network

Iran busts CIA terror network
Tehran Times Political Desk
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=168823

TEHRAN - The Intelligence Ministry on Saturday released details of the
detection and dismantling of a terrorist network affiliated to the
United States.

In a coordinated operation on May 7, Iranian intelligence agents
arrested the terrorist network's members, who were identified in Fars,
Khuzestan, Gilan, West Azerbaijan, and Tehran provinces, the
Intelligence Ministry announcement said.

The group's plans were devised in the U.S., according to the
announcement, which added that they had planned to carry out a number
of acts such as bombing scientific, educational, and religious
centers, shooting people, and making public places in various cities
insecure.

One of the terrorists was killed in the operation, but the rest are in
detention, the Intelligence Ministry said, adding that the group's
main objective was to create fear among the people.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency comprehensively
supported the terrorist group by arming it, training its members, and
sponsoring its inhumane activities in Iran, the Intelligence Ministry
stated.

The terrorists had maps, films, pictures, and sketches of important
and sensitive sites in various cities in their possession when they
were arrested.

They also had a large number of weapons and ammunition and a great
deal of highly explosive chemicals and cyanide.

The blast at a religious center in Shiraz last month was carried out
by this group, and it also had plans to carry out similar attacks on
the Tehran International Book Fair, the Russian Consulate in Gilan
Province, oil pipelines in southern Iran, and other targets, the
communiqué stated.

Thirteen people were killed and over 190 others wounded in a bombing
carried out on April 12 at the Rahpuyan-e Vessal religious center,
which is part of the Seyyed-ul-Shohada Mosque complex, located in a
residential area of Shiraz.

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Iran says to sue U.S. and Britain over mosque blast
Mon May 12, 2008

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSDAH25714820080512?sp=true

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's judiciary said on Monday it would file
international lawsuits against the United States and Britain, accusing
them of providing financial support to those behind a blast in a
mosque that killed 14 people.

Iran's intelligence minister last week said Iran had arrested five or
six members of a terrorist group with links to Britain and the United
States who he said were involved in the explosion that also wounded
200 in the southern city of Shiraz.

Iranian officials had previously said the April 12 blast, during an
evening prayer sermon by a prominent local cleric, was caused by
explosives left over from an exhibition commemorating the 1980-88
Iran-Iraq war.

Judiciary spokesman Ali-Reza Jamshidi told state television the
terrorists behind the bombing were agents of the U.S. and British
governments in Iran.

"The relationship of those who planted the bombs in Shiraz with the
U.S. and Britain was identified and they were being financially
supported and in fact they acted as foreign agents in Iran," he said.
"In view of the documents obtained the judiciary in cooperation with
the government and the Foreign Ministry will file lawsuits with
international authorities against their supporters, who on the one
hand claim to fight terrorists and on the other hand provide them with
equipment," he said.

He was clearly referring to Britain and the United States, but did not
give details on how Tehran would take legal action against them.
Iran has in the past accused the two countries of trying to
destabilize the Islamic Republic by supporting rebels, mainly those in
sensitive border areas.

Tehran's accusations over the mosque blast echo allegations U.S.
officials have made about Iranian support for militias in Iraq that
have fought U.S. and U.S.-backed government forces there, accusations
Tehran denies.

Iran and the United States are also at odds over Tehran's nuclear
program, which Washington suspects is aimed at making bombs. Iran says
its program is for producing electricity.

Security is normally tight in Shi'ite Muslim Iran and bomb attacks
have been rare in recent years. Several people were killed in 2005 and
2006 in blasts in a southwestern province with a large Sunni Arab
population.

Shiraz is a southern city with more than one million inhabitants and
is a popular tourist destination.

(Reporting by Hossein Jaseb and Hashem Kalantari; Writing by Fredrik
Dahl; Editing by Sami Aboudi)

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