mandag den 10. september 2007

Iran accuses US of supporting rebel groups

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran on Thursday accused the United States of supporting separatist rebel groups in its border regions to carry out acts of sabotage, including blowing up oil pipelines.

Iran's top national security official Ali Larijani said that Washington was backing groups like Pejak, a Kurdish separatist group linked to Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has carried out a spate of attacks in northwestern Iran.

"The United States has become so weak that it is trying to strengthen groups like Pejak and other groups to carry out actions like blowing up oil pipelines in Iran," the official news agency IRNA quoted Larijani as saying.

His comments came the day after seven members of the Iranian security forces were killed in a shootout with "rebels" in the western Kermanshah province, which has a substantial Kurdish population.

Last month, six members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards were killed in a helicopter crash near the Iraqi border which the authorities said was due to bad weather, but Kurdish rebels said was due to the chopper being shot down.

Iran has repeatedly accused the United States of aiding banned militant groups in a bid to stir tensions in sensitive regions with ethnic minority populations on its borders with Iraq, Pakistan and Turkey.

Tehran has said that the United States is aiding the Sunni militant group Jundallah which has been behind attacks and abductions in its restive southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.

Washington and Tehran are at loggerheads over Iran's nuclear programme and its alleged meddling in Iraq and the United States has never ruled out possible military action against the Islamic republic.

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Dette er interessant hvis man tager i betragtning, at den pensionerede amerikanske oberst Sam Gardiner i et interview med Wolf Blitzer på CNN sidste år, sagde at USA havde foretaget militære operationer i Iran i ti måneder.

Interviewet kan ses her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF-HC8Cy2cU

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