No hand in attack on Israeli diplomat: Iran
NEW DELHI: Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who is in India to invite PM Manmohan Singh
to the upcoming NAM summit in Tehran, on Thursday launched a bitter
diatribe against Israel, even suggesting that no Iranian may have been
involved in the bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat's car here. He was
also non-committal on whether Iran would allow an Indian police team to visit the country.
"We totally refute these allegations," he said in the presence of his Indian counterpart S M Krishna after a meeting. This is the first time Tehran has officially responded to charges about involvement of Iranians after these were authenticated by the findings of Indian investigating agencies. While taking care not to directly blame any Iranian agency for the attack, India had earlier requested Tehran through MEA to cooperate in the investigations against three named Iran nationals.
Government sources, however, said that immediately after Salehi's remarks, Krishna tried to save the situation by taking up the matter with his counterpart in another meeting over lunch and telling him that India would still like to send a police team to Iran "based on suggestions made earlier by Iran itself".
Iranian authorities had earlier indicated that they were not averse to India sending a team to the country. Krishna told Salehi that Indian agencies had some evidence which suggested involvement of people based in Iran. Salehi then responded by saying that Iran will "consider" allowing a police team to visit the country.
"What Iran foreign minister has said is not going to impinge on the investigations and we are hopeful that they will allow a probe team to visit Iran soon," an official said.
Drawing a parallel with an earlier case in which Iran was accused of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in the US, Salehi said the international community actually needed to ask the Zionist regime as to who were the actual perpetrators as it was Israel which had legalized assassinations.
Salehi decided to let go after he was asked whether or not Iran was going to support the probe by Indian agencies. "They (Israel) said just a few days ago that they were introducing these computer viruses into our industry and seemed proud of it. When they assassinate our best scientists, our young scientists... they were just in the beginning of their careers... they expressed loudly they were the ones who assassinated these scientists. It is them the international community has to ask who were the perpetrators," he said.
"They have given assassinations a legality when it comes to killing Palestinians. So, we totally refute the allegations... the world conscious (sic) knows the Zionist regime and how they do their business," he added.
"We totally refute these allegations," he said in the presence of his Indian counterpart S M Krishna after a meeting. This is the first time Tehran has officially responded to charges about involvement of Iranians after these were authenticated by the findings of Indian investigating agencies. While taking care not to directly blame any Iranian agency for the attack, India had earlier requested Tehran through MEA to cooperate in the investigations against three named Iran nationals.
Government sources, however, said that immediately after Salehi's remarks, Krishna tried to save the situation by taking up the matter with his counterpart in another meeting over lunch and telling him that India would still like to send a police team to Iran "based on suggestions made earlier by Iran itself".
Iranian authorities had earlier indicated that they were not averse to India sending a team to the country. Krishna told Salehi that Indian agencies had some evidence which suggested involvement of people based in Iran. Salehi then responded by saying that Iran will "consider" allowing a police team to visit the country.
"What Iran foreign minister has said is not going to impinge on the investigations and we are hopeful that they will allow a probe team to visit Iran soon," an official said.
Drawing a parallel with an earlier case in which Iran was accused of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in the US, Salehi said the international community actually needed to ask the Zionist regime as to who were the actual perpetrators as it was Israel which had legalized assassinations.
Salehi decided to let go after he was asked whether or not Iran was going to support the probe by Indian agencies. "They (Israel) said just a few days ago that they were introducing these computer viruses into our industry and seemed proud of it. When they assassinate our best scientists, our young scientists... they were just in the beginning of their careers... they expressed loudly they were the ones who assassinated these scientists. It is them the international community has to ask who were the perpetrators," he said.
"They have given assassinations a legality when it comes to killing Palestinians. So, we totally refute the allegations... the world conscious (sic) knows the Zionist regime and how they do their business," he added.
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