Iran blames Britain and US for bombings

Iran’s president today blamed Britain and the US for two bombings that killed at least nine people in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

“Traces of the occupiers of Iraq is evident in the Ahvaz events. They should take responsibility in this regard,” state television quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying.

The station reported that 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.

At least nine people were killed in yesterday’s two blasts in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province which borders Iraq, police spokesman Mohammed Ali Pour said today.

Forty-six people were wounded in the explosions inside a bank and outside a state environmental agency building, the official Islamic Republic News Agency has reported.

Ahvaz has a history of violence involving members of Iran’s Arab minority. Last year, bombings in June and October killed a total of 14 people in the city. 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, which borders Iraq near where 8,500 British soldiers are based.

Britain has denied any connection to the Khuzestan unrest.