Iranian officials vowed a “crushing response” today after a suicide blast in Sistan-Balochistan killed at least 49 people, including several high ranking members of the nation’s elite Revolutionary Guard forces.
Iran’s state media reported the Baloch separatist group Jundallah had claimed credit for the attack, and officials in the military accused the US and Britain of involvement, threatening to take revenge against those responsible.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the Pakistani government to help with the apprehension of those responsible, and also accused elements of the Pakistani government with complicity in the strike. Jundallah is active on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border, but the Pakistani government denies that the leadership is on its side of the region.
Though it is well established that the US has been supporting Jundallah since at least 2005, the State Department condemned the attack as an “act of terrorism,” and insisted they had nothing to do with the attack.
