Iran rejects blame for Israeli Embassy attack

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) - Iran has dismissed reports of its involvement in a recent low-intensity explosion near the Israeli mission in the Indian capital.

In a detailed statement on Monday, the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi rejected what it said were "unsubstantiated allegations," offering to cooperate with Indian authorities in the probe.

"Is the presumption that this act must have been conducted by third parties who are angry and dissatisfied with the progress in the relations between the two governments of Iran and India illogical?" read the statement, blaming "enemies of Iran-India relations" for the attack.

The statement came hours after a major Indian daily reported that India's central counter-terrorism agencies had prepared a list of suspects in the Jan. 29 blast, allegedly linking it to the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

​​​​​​​Rejecting the accusation, the Iranian mission in New Delhi said Tehran would "never allow conduct of actions that are inhumane, terrorist, barbaric," saying the country had been at the "forefront of fighting against terrorism."

Tensions between the Iran and Israel, two long-time adversaries, reached fever pitch recently after Tehran accused Tel Aviv of carrying out an attack that killed Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, vowing revenge.

Iran has rejected involvement in the Jan. 26 blast, the second such attack in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi.