Israel calls on world to stop Iran agression

JERUSALEM / TEHRAN

Israeli PM Netanyahu says world should stop Iran’s aggression. AFP photo

Israeli officials ramped up accusations yesterday that Iran was launching covert attack plots, saying “sticky” bombs found in a Thai house rented by Iranians were similar to devices used against Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the violence, while Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the allegations “baseless” and said Israel was trying to damage his country’s relations with Thailand and fuel “conspiracy” theories.

Thailand’s government was struggling to piece together what a trio of Iranian men were plotting when a cache of explosives detonated by mistake in their home in Bangkok’s busy Sukhumvit Road area a day earlier. Bomb disposal teams combed the Iranians’ house again yesterday looking for more evidence, while security forces were searching for an Iranian woman they said had originally rented it. Two of the men were detained in Bangkok on Feb. 14 after fleeing the destroyed house, while a third was arrested yesterday in neighboring Malaysia after boarding a flight from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur overnight.
Netanyahu said if the world did not stop Iran’s “aggression” the attacks would spread and world must draw red lines to stop Iran. “It harms innocent diplomats in many countries and the nations of the world must condemn Iran’s terror actions and demarcate red lines against Iranian aggression. If such aggression is not stopped it will spread to many countries.” Iranian state TV quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying that Israel was behind the explosions.


Compiled from AP and Reuters stories by the Daily News staff.