Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar says Tehran is investigating reports of US plans to mobilize an Iraq-based terror group on Iran’s northwestern border.
| Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar speaks with reporters following a meeting with government officials in Tehran, July 21, 2010 |
"We are investigating this [report]; however, the global arrogance has and will use Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) against the interests of the Iranian nation wherever it can," Fars News Agency quoted Mohammad-Najjar as saying on Wednesday.
Washington has called on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants to allow members of the anti-Iran terrorist group access to the Qandil mountain rage along Iran’s northwestern border, Fars quoted an informed source close to PKK Leadership Council on Tuesday.
The remarks came hours after an explosion damaged a gas pipeline near the eastern Turkish town of Dogubayazit, close to the Iranian border.
Regarding the July 15 terrorist attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan, Mohammad-Najjar urged neighboring countries to step up security on their borders and prevent terrorists from crossing into Iran.
"Neighboring countries should not become the backyard of a group of thugs who act against the interests of our establishment. Since Iran’s borders have always been the securest for our neighbors, we expect them to secure their borders and not allow their soil and capacities be used to equip these thugs against the interest of our nation."
Last Thursday, at least 27 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured when two bombs detonated outside the Zahedan Grand Mosque in Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
The attacks have widely been blamed on extremist Wahabis and Salafis trained by US intelligence in Pakistan.
Last month, military sources told Press TV that the US army had moved a select group of MKO terrorists from Camp Ashraf near Baghdad to a US base in central Iraq.
According to the sources, the US army plans to later disperse these MKO members as ‘secret agents’ and terrorists across the border and into Iran.