Iran’s foreign ministry has issued a statement condemning the attack at the Boston marathon and expressing sympathy for the victims. But the statement, made by spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast, also used the bombing to reiterate a political point that Iran has been making to the U.S. for months. The Washington Post publishes an article about it titled "Iran condemns the Boston bombing, with a caveat."
"The foreign ministry statement, translated by Arash Karami of Al-Monitor, pivoted quickly and a little awkwardly from condemning the Boston bombing to asking the U.S. government to reclassify the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) as a terrorist group.
The U.S. recently removed the MEK from its official list of terrorist organizations, allowing the group to open a lobbying office in the District and angering Iran, which considers MEK a terrorist group for its campaign of bombings and assassinations in the 1970s and ’80s. The Iranian government has long urged the U.S. not to alter its terrorist classification of MEK," the article says.
“As we know, terrorists and extremists cause harm to everyone, and by no means should anyone justify supporting them, whether in the Middle East, America or any point in the world. We believe that the freedom to operate politically should not be a threat to innocent and ordinary lives,” the article quotes the Mehmanparast.
However, as the article concludes, "it’s hard to imagine that the U.S. State Department will be particularly receptive to this sort of argument."
