US must be accountable for supporting terrorist groups, Iran says

Tehran, August 1, IRNA - Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Saturday said that the US must be accountable for supporting terrorist groups that are directing sabotage and terrorist operations against the Iranian people from the United States and shed the blood of Iranian citizens. Expressing gratitude to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry for arresting the head of a terrorist and sabotage group, Mousavi said that the US regime introduces itself alongside the Iranian people while this regime has responsibility for several terrorist operations inside Iran in various ways against Iranian people. Complaining over the US government, he said that the US should be responsible for supporting this terrorist group and criminals from inside the United States who lead sabotage, armed and terrorist operations against the Iranian people and shed the blood of Iranian citizens. Iran has arrested Jamshid Sharmahd, the alleged ringleader of the Tondar (Thunder) terrorist group, according to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. Sharmahd, who guided the armed and sabotage acts against Iran from the US, was arrested in complicated operations by the Iranian security forces and is now in the hands of the country’s intelligence ministry, a statement by the ministry said. Tondar, or the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, also known as Soldiers of the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, is an armed terrorist royalist group seeking to overthrow the ruling government and restore the monarchy in Iran. Tondar claimed responsibility for the 2008 Shiraz explosion at the Hosseynieh Seyed al-Shohada in which 14 people, including children, were killed and 215 others were injured. Mohammad-Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, accused of being members of the terrorist group, were arrested and tried for the bombing. In January 2010, they were executed for waging war against God and attempting to overthrow the Islamic Republic. Tondar had also plotted for several other terrorist acts in Iran in recent years, including blowing up the Sivand dam in Shiraz, detonating cyanide bombs at the Tehran book exhibition, and the explosion of bombs during general ceremonies at late Imam Khomeini’s shrine. All these terrorist plots were foiled by the Iranian security forces.