Iran Says West Behind Deadly Damascus Bombings
Iran on Friday condemned the latest deadly bomb blasts to reel its ally Syria in a 14-month-old uprising and accused Western powers of orchestrating them.
"The terrorist acts were guided by (global) arrogance and the enemies of free nations," First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said, quoted by state news agency IRNA, using the Islamic republic's term for Western powers.
The twin blasts in Damascus on Thursday that killed at least 55 people "were carried out to halt (President) Bashar Assad's democratic reform process in Syria," Rahimi said.
The Syrian government and opposition traded blame for the bombings, which also left nearly 400 people wounded and clouded a tenuous U.N.-backed ceasefire that has failed to take hold since it went into effect on April 12.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the attacks, urging all sides to stick to the peace plan.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman also condemned the bombings and said it was in reaction to the parliamentary elections held by the Assad regime on Monday and dismissed by opposition groups as a sham.
"Resorting to such violent acts and targeting Syrian civilians reveals the strategy of those groups who stand against the will of the majority ... who voted in parliamentary elections," spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.
Syria is the main Middle East ally of the Islamic republic, which has pledged its support to beleaguered Assad in the face of a deadly revolt against his regime since mid-March 2011.
Source: Agence France Presse
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