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Israel blames Iran for bombs targeting envoys

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

February 14, 2012|By Ethan Bronner

Indian police examined an Israeli diplomatic car hit by a bomb yesterday… (KEVIN FRAYER/ASSOCIATED…)

JERUSALEM — Tensions between Israel and Iran rose sharply yesterday when bombers struck at Israeli Embassy personnel in the capitals of India and Georgia. Israel accused the Tehran government of being behind the attacks, which Iran denied.

The wife of an Israeli defense envoy to New Delhi was injured, along with several other people when her car was damaged by an explosive device placed on it by a motorcyclist at a red light. In Tblisi, the Georgian capital, a similar device was discovered on the car of a staff member of the Israeli Embassy but was defused by police.

Both resembled attacks that have killed five of Iran’s nuclear scientists in recent years, most recently last month. Iran has attributed the assassinations to Israeli agents and vowed to take revenge. The scientists’ assassinations - along with sabotage of Iran’s nuclear program through cyberwarfare and faulty parts - are aimed at delaying what the West believes is Iran’s drive to build a nuclear weapon.

If carried out by Iran, the attacks would be another indication that the leadership in Tehran is willing to reach beyond its borders against its enemies and expand its attacks to civilians. The United States has charged that Iran was behind a plot to assassinate a Saudi ambassador on US soil, and Israel has said that Iran has planned to attack its citizens in various countries, but that those plots were stopped.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, contended that yesterday’s attacks fit that pattern.

“In recent months we have witnessed several attempts to attack Israeli citizens and Jews in several countries, including Azerbaijan, Thailand, and others,’’ he said. “In each instance, we succeeded in foiling the attacks in cooperation with local authorities. Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah, were behind all of these attempted attacks.’’

Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected Israel’s accusations yesterday. A spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said, “Israel has bombed its embassies in New Delhi and Tbilisi to tarnish Iran’s friendly ties with the host countries,’’ adding, “Israel perpetrated the terrorist actions to launch psychological warfare against Iran.’’

Iran has defended its nuclear program as peaceful and has defiantly pursued uranium enrichment through years of international pressure and sanctions. Israel’s increasingly urgent warnings on the need to halt Iran’s nuclear progress, before it gets much closer to being able to build a bomb, have prompted concerns that Israel might unilaterally mount a military strike - and have added to the implacable enmity between the two.