Iran vows reprisals after bombing kills dozens

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran vowed retaliation Monday after accusing Pakistan, the U.S. and Britain of aiding Sunni militants who stunned the Islamic regime with a suicide bombing that killed top Revolutionary Guard commanders and dozens of others.

A commentary by the official news agency called on Iranian security forces "to seriously deal with Pakistan once and for all." And President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Pakistani counterpart that his nation must hunt down suspected members of Jundallah, or Soldiers of God.

"The presence of terrorist elements in Pakistan is not justifiable and the Pakistani government needs to help arrest and punish the criminals as soon as possible," state TV quoted Ahmadinejad as telling President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday.

Iran made no specific threats against the U.S. or Britain, but the accusations came as talks began in Vienna over Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. is part of those talks, which observers said made little headway Monday beyond spelling out each side's position.

Iran has often claimed that Western powers use groups such as Jundallah to try to destabilize the country. But the direct finger-pointing at Pakistan - and the warnings of a stepped-up offensive - present a different and risky scenario for Iran's leaders.

Sunday's attack occurred in a region that is home to several minority Sunni tribes in rugged southeastern Iran. It is one of the country's most restive areas. Until now, authorities have avoided widespread security offensives that could draw in outside extremists such as al-Qaida.

Sharper tensions with Pakistan could severely hurt Iran's efforts to battle drug trafficking and jeopardize i! mportant trade deals at a time when Tehran could face more sanctions over its nuclear program. In May, the two countries signed a landmark pact for a natural gas pipeline into Pakistan.

Pakistan's president quickly condemned the attack that killed at least 42 people - including five senior Revolutionary Guard officers - in a district near Iran's border with Pakistan. The dry canyons and hills are crisscrossed by smuggling routes and home to Sunni Muslim ethnic groups known as Baluchi.

Jundallah gained notice more than five years ago with sporadic attacks and kidnappings, claiming the minority Sunni tribes in southeastern Iran suffer at the hands of Iran's Shiite leadership. Its leader, Abdulmalik Rigi, has been quoted as saying the group does not seek to break from Iran but that violence is necessary to draw attention to discrimination.

Most experts estimate Jundallah has no more than 1,000 main fighters from Baluchi clans, whose territory extends into Pakistan and Afghanistan. Iran has claimed the group has ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban, but most analysts say no evidence has been produced.

Jundallah has targeted the powerful Revolutionary Guard before, including a February 2007 car bombing that killed 11 members. The group also claimed responsibility for a May suicide bomb that killed 25 worshippers in a Shiite mosque.

Sunday's blast was the most deadly. Reports said a suicide bomber ambushed a high-level delegation of Guard commanders arriving for talks on promoting Sunni-Shiite reconciliation with tribal leaders in Pishin near the Pakstani border.

Revolutionary Guard chief Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari vowed to deliver a "crushing" response and said an Iranian delegation would travel to Pakistan soon to present evidence of links to its agents.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a statement on his official Web site v! owing to punish those behind the attack.

Several analysts who have studied Jundallah say the group likely receives inspiration and material support from Baluchi nationalists in Pakistan, but no direct backing from militant factions.

"Evidence shows that U.S., British and Pakistani intelligence supported the group," state TV quoted Jafari as saying.

The State Department and Britain's Foreign Office strongly rejected claims of any involvement.

Zardari called the incident "gruesome and barbaric" and pledged full Pakistani support to fight the militants, according to a statement from his office.

Peiman Forouzesh, an Iranian lawmaker representing the region where the attack took place, called on the Guard to carry out military operations inside the Pakistani soil against Jundallah.

A statement in the name of Jundallah said the attack was carried out in "retaliation for the Iranian regime's crimes against the unarmed people of Baluchistan."

The victims of the attack included the deputy commander of the Guard's ground forces, Gen. Noor Ali Shooshtari, as well as a chief provincial Guard commander, Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh. The others killed were Guard members or tribal leaders.

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Associated Press Writers Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Sebastian Abbot and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report. Murphy reported from Dubai.

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Iran to respond to UN nuclear proposal next week

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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran put off until next week a formal response to a U.N.-backed plan to ship much of its uranium to Russia for enrichment, the country's nuclear envoy said Friday. The West sees the proposal as a way to curb Tehran's alleged efforts to make nuclear weapons.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Tehran is still studying the proposal and would inform the U.N. nuclear watchdog "next week about our evaluation."

"We are working and elaborating on all the details of this proposal," Soltanieh told state Press TV.

The plan was put forth Wednesday after three days of talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna. The United States, Russia and France endorsed the deal Friday, when an official response from Tehran had been expected.

Iran's acquiescence would be a boost to Obama administration efforts to curtail Tehran's nuclear program and ease Western fears about its potential to make nuclear weapons.

The State Department expressed mild disappointment that Iran withheld a decision and said it was unhappy Iran was not ready to embrace the proposal.

The plan is attractive to the U.S. because it would consume a large amount of Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium, thereby limiting the potential for Tehran to secretly convert it into uranium suitable for a nuclear weapon. Iran denies it has any intention of making a weapon, saying its nuclear program is for generating power.

State Department spokesman Ian C. Kelly said the U.S. still hopes Iran will go along with the IAEA option. "This is a real opportunity for Iran to help address some of the real conc! erns of the international community about its nuclear program and at the same time still provide for the humanitarian needs of the Iranian people," Kelly said. "We hope that they will next week provide a positive response."

Alireza Nader of the RAND Corp. said if Iran rejects the deal, it would "lead to increased tensions" and a possible new set of U.N. sanctions. Nader said the U.N. proposal is "problematic for Iran's hard-line factions."

"Accepting it would indicate a compromise with world powers, and Tehran has repeatedly said it would not compromise," Nader said.

Soltanieh's statement came on the eve of a visit by U.N. nuclear experts to Iran to inspect a recently disclosed uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom. The visit, which kicks off late Saturday, is an indication that Tehran is making good on some of its promises to the West.

The IAEA said Friday that Iran told agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei it is "considering the (U.N.) proposal in depth and in a favorable light, but needs time until the middle of next week to provide a response."

Just hours earlier, Iranian state TV quoted an unidentified official close to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team as saying that Tehran wants to buy nuclear fuel it needs for a research reactor, rather than accept the U.N. plan.

The TV quoted the official as saying Tehran was waiting for a response from world powers to its own proposal to buy the 20 percent-enriched uranium it needs for its Tehran reactor that produces medical isotopes. The U.S.-built reactor has been producing medical isotopes for more than three decades.

While the TV report was not an outright rejection of the U.N. proposal, it raised concerns since Iran has often used counterproposals as a way to draw out nuclear talks with the West. On Thursday, deputy speaker of the parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar dismisse! d the U. N. plan.

David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear inspector, now with the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, said the Iranian proposal to buy nuclear fuel is a nonstarter because U.N. sanctions stand in the way of anyone willing to sell Tehran enriched uranium.

"The IAEA plan was pretty clear, it was goodwill test by the Obama administration to see if Iran is serious about being prepared to negotiate," Albright told The Associated Press. "Iran would put itself in a bad position if it rejects a very reasonable offer made in good faith."

At the U.N., Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said he told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday that Iran is trying to buy all the items it needs to become a nuclear power. Shalom did not disclose any details.

The Vienna talks followed a similar meeting Oct. 1 in Geneva that included the highest-level bilateral contact between the U.S. and Iran in years. At the time, the revelation that Iran has been building a nuclear plant for uranium enrichment near Qom had heightened international concerns.

Iran is enriching uranium to a 3.5 percent level for a nuclear power plant it is planning to build in southwestern Iran. Iranian officials have said it is more economical to purchase the more highly enriched uranium needed for the Tehran reactor than produce it domestically.

The Vienna-brokered plan would have required Iran to send 2,420 pounds (1,100 kilograms) of low-enriched uranium - around 70 percent of its stockpile - to Russia in one batch by the end of the year, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Thursday.

After further enrichment in Russia, France would have converted the uranium into fuel rods for return to Iran for use in the Tehran reactor, he said.

This would significantly restrain any covert arms pursuit! , since 2,205 pounds (1,000 kilograms) is the commonly accepted amount of low-enriched uranium needed to produce weapons-grade uranium for a single nuclear warhead.

Based on Iran's present stockpile, the U.S. has estimated that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015, an assessment that broadly matches those from Israel and other nations.

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Iran bombing kills 5 Revolutionary Guard leaders

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- A suicide bomber killed five senior commanders of the powerful Revolutionary Guard and at least 37 others Sunday near the Pakistani border in the heartland of a potentially escalating Sunni insurgency.

The attack - which also left dozens wounded - was the most high-profile strike against security forces in an outlaw region of armed tribal groups, drug smugglers and Sunni rebels known as Jundallah, or Soldiers of God.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised sharp retaliation. But a sweeping offensive by authorities is unlikely.

Iranian officials have been reluctant to open full-scale military operations in the southeastern border zone, fearing it could become a hotspot for sectarian violence with the potential to draw in al-Qaida and Sunni militants from nearby Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The region's top prosecutor, Mohammad Marzieh, was quoted by the semi-official ISNA news agency as saying Jundallah claimed responsibility for the blast in the Pishin district near the Pakistani border.

There was no immediate statement directly from the group, which has carried out sporadic kidnappings and attacks in recent years - including targeting the Revolutionary Guard - to press their claims of persecution in the Shiite government and officials.

In May, Jundallah said it sent a suicide bomber into a Shiite mosque in the southeastern city of Zahedan, killing 25 worshippers.

The latest attack, however, would mark the group's highest-level target. It also raised questions about how the attacker breached security around such a top delegation from the Revolutionary Guard - the country's strongest military force, w! hich is directly linked to the ruling clerics under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency said the victims included the deputy commander of the Guard's ground forces, Gen. Noor Ali Shooshtari, as well as a chief provincial Guard commander, Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh. The others killed were Guard members or tribal leaders, it said.

The agency quoted the provincial forensics director, Abbas Amian, as saying 42 bodies had been handed over to his department.

More than two dozen others were wounded, state radio reported.

The commanders were entering a sports complex to meet tribal leaders to discuss Sunni-Shiite cooperation when the attacker detonated a belt fitted with explosives, IRNA said.

Ahmadinejad - who counts on support from the Revolutionary Guard - vowed to strike back.

"The criminals will soon get the response for their inhuman crimes," IRNA quoted him as saying.

But controlling the scrubland and arid hills along the southeastern borders is a huge challenge that has been out of Iran's reach.

Drug traffickers ferry opium and other narcotics through the cross-border badlands - a key source of income for the Taliban in Afghanistan and the ethnic Baluchi tribes that straddle the three-nation region and include members of Jundallah. Iran has pleaded for more international help to cut off the drug routes and criminal gangs.

Iran also has accused Jundallah of receiving support from al-Qaida and the Taliban, though some analysts who have studied the group dispute such a link.

"There is no evidence of outside help for Jundallah from wider militant networks," said Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. "It's a homegrown group that moves across the borders within fel! low Balu chi tribes. It is very hard to control the border."

In an attempt to boost security in the region, Iran in April put the Revolutionary Guard directly in control of the Sistan-Baluchistan Province in Iran's southeastern corner.

The 120,000-strong Guard also controls Iran's missile program, guards its nuclear facilities and has its own ground, naval and air units.

The Revolutionary Guard led the blanket crackdown on dissident after Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June. But the attack Sunday appeared to have no link to the political showdowns.

State television accused Britain of supporting Jundallah, without providing any evidence.

The Revolutionary Guard blamed the attack on what it called the "global arrogance," a reference to the United States.

On the eve of talks about Tehran's nuclear program, Washington was quick to react.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the United States condemned what he called an "act of terrorism." Reports of alleged U.S. involvement are "completely false," he said.

Iran's parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, told lawmakers that the bombing was aimed at further destabilizing the uneasy border region with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"The intention of the terrorists was definitely to disrupt security in Sistan-Baluchistan Province," Larijani said.

Iranian officials summoned Pakistan's charge d'affairs in Tehran to lodge allegations that "terrorists" use bases in Pakistan to carry out attacks against Iran, IRNA reported.

In Quetta, Pakistan, police official Akbar Sanjrani said Iran had closed at least one border crossing. He said Iranian authorities did not give a reason for blocking the route, but Sanjrani speculated it was related to the bombing.

Pakistan's Fore! ign Offi ce spokesman, Abdul Basit, also rejected Iranian claims that Jundallah's leader is in Pakistan.

"We are struggling to eradicate the menace of terrorism," Basit told Geo TV.

The group also has claimed responsibility for a February 2007 car bombing that killed 11 members of the Revolutionary Guard near Zahedan.

Despite Iran's claims of an al-Qaida link, Chris Zambelis, a Washington-based risk management consultant who has studied Jundallah, said in a recent article that there is no evidence al-Qaida is supporting the group. He does note, however, that the group has begun to use the kinds of suicide bombings associated with the global terror network.

"Jundallah's contacts with the Taliban are most likely based on jointly profiting from the illicit trade and smuggling as opposed to ideology," Zambelis wrote in the July issue of West Point's CTC Sentinel.

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Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, contributed to this report. Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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