By Peter Lukimson, exclusively to VK
World media claims that the war between Israel and Iran has already started, and the blasts in Tehran and New Delhi are its battles or a prelude to real action. While Iran can’t provide any conclusive proof that Israel is behind the recent killings of Iranian nuclear scientists, the ‘Iranian trail’ is quite visible in the New Delhi, Tbilisi and Bangkok attacks - Iranian agents acted far too incompetently.
On February 13, Georgian citizen Roman Khachaturyan employed as a driver at the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi, found an explosive device attached to the bottom of his car. The device was successfully neutralized by the police, and local and Israeli special services started an investigation. It is interesting that the private car of an Israeli diplomat was targeted, not an embassy vehicle. Right after the incident, the Israeli Ambassador to Georgia was instructed by the Israeli government not to leave his apartment and the embassy was closed down for several hours.
In the Indian capital events took a more dramatic turn. Tali Iegoshua , the wife of Israeli Defense Minister representative Alon Iegoshua, was on her way to pick their children up from school. When the car stopped at a traffic light, a motorcycle approached and the biker attached an explosive device on a magnet to the side of the vehicle. The explosion delivered moderately severe injuries to Tali, the driver was lightly injured. Three passers-by were also injured.
After the blast an emergency meeting took place at Israeli General Headquarters. Israeli special services possessed information about the preparation of attempts on the lives of Israeli officials by Iran and Hezbollah. The explosions occured a day after the fourth anniversary of the death of Hezbollah terrorist wing leader Imad Mugniye in Damascus. Another motivation for Iran would be to avenge the recent deaths of its nuclear scientists, blamed by Teheran on Israel.
The head of the Israeli government, Benjamin Netanyahu, named Iran as the culprit in the bombings in the first hours after the incident, and all Israeli missions, especially in the ‘rick zone’ (South-East Asia, South Caucasus and Latin America) went on emergency alert.
Meanwhile, Teheran denounced Israeli accusations and hinted that the attacks were orchestrated by Israeli itself or committed by its numerous enemies in the world. However, not a day had passed when the allegations against Iran were confirmed in another part of the globe – in Bangkok. An explosion took place in an apartment in a prestigious Bangkok neighbourhood, and right after that, according to the eyewitnesses, three men fled the scene, one of them injured. The injured man tried to take a taxi, but the driver refused to pick up such a suspicious passenger. Then the terrorist threw a grenade at the car, but it bounced off and exploded near the terrorist, damaging his legs. He was captured alive by the police. The terrorist had an Iranian passport on him, a number of explosive devices and components were found in the flat. The second terrorist was arrested a few hours later and he also possessed an Iranian passport, the third perpetrator managed to escape to Malaysia, but was captured by the authorities of the country.
A high-ranking Thai security official said that the terrorist had targeted Israeli officials, including the ambassador. The Thai police suspect that initially the group included 5 members. Even though Iranian citizens were involved in the terrorist cell, the Teheran authorities deny their involvement.
Terrorist attacks by Hezbollah and Iran against Israel and its officials abroad have a long history. The most bloody events took place in Argentina’s capital in the early 1990s, when explosions hit the Israeli Embassy and a community center. The attacks were carried out by a Hezbollah group headed by Imad Mugniye and orchestrated by Iran (the explosives were delivered to Argentina with Iranian diplomatic mail). Another successful attack took place in Turkey, when the Israeli embassy security chief was killed.
After Imad Mugniye was killed in 2008, Hezbollah agents became less successful in their attempts on Israeli officials.
For example, in May 2008 some Lebanese citizens were arrested in Baku and accused of the attempted bombing of the Israeli embassy. Another terrorist attack against Israel was prevented in November in Egypt. In 2009 the Egyptian authorities uncovered a Hezbollah cell that planned terrorist attacks against Israeli tourists and another attack was prevented in Istanbul. Not a month ago, Azeri authorities arrested assassins hired by Iran to kill Israeli diplomats in Baku; a group of terrorists was arrested in Bangkok.
Not long ago the head of the Israeli General Headquarters warned of a new wave of anti-Israeli attacks abroad. And as it turns out, this warning wasn’t idle. The Bangkok events showed that now the attacks are being carried out by members of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard special squad ‘Al-Quds’, headed by General Khassam Suleimani. The squad operates in close cooperation with Hezbollah. However, the attacks in Tbilisi, New Delhi and Bangkok, linked together by the type of explosive devices, were planned and carried out quite poorly and incompetently. This gives the events a sort of a positive aspect for the Israeli special services. It is possible that the three blunders could be explained by pressure from above; Suleimani wanted the attacks to be carried out as soon as possible, probably eager to time the attacks to the date of Mugniye’s death. Teheran also seems to hope that successful attacks against Israeli officials would stop those who attacked Iranian nuclear scientists from similar acts.
The relatively successful attack in India is still being investigated. It is interesting to mention that even before any details were officially released and any accusations were made, an anonymous source blamed Mossad for the attack, reasoning that if Hezbollah or Iran were behind this, the damage would have been much greater. If the investigation proves that Iran is behind the New Delhi attack, Teheran would have to regret its rash decision: India and Iran used to have friendly relations, and India is one of Iran’s major oil buyers.
At the same time, the world media reported new progress in Iran’s efforts to get a nuclear bomb – another 3000 centrifuges for enriching uranium were unveiled by President Ahmadinejad. Of course, that only strengthens Israel’s concerns.
