Speaking of Blast, Iranian Describes Work on Weapons

NYTimes

The explosion last weekend in Iran that killed 17 members of the armed forces, including a founder of the country’s missile program, occurred while researchers were working on weapons capable of delivering Israel a “strong punch in the mouth” and disrupted their project by a few days, the Iranian military chief of staff said Wednesday.

The remarks by the chief of staff, Hassan Firouzabadi, represented the first time that an Iranian official had offered any detail on the nature of the work at the military base where the explosion took place. The commander’s remarks also went beyond earlier descriptions of the impact of the damage.

The net effect seemed to deepen, rather than clarify, the questions behind the explosion at the base in Bidganeh, about 25 miles from Tehran, which Iranian authorities have insisted was an accident. The force of the blast was so enormous that it shook windows in many surrounding towns, according to Iranian news sites and witnesses.

Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, regarded as an important figure in Iran’s efforts to construct long-range missiles, was killed in the explosion, as were 16 fellow members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

It came against a backdrop of rising tension with Iran’s adversaries, notably Israel and the United States, over the Iranian nuclear program, which Western nations suspect is meant for military use despite Iran’s denials. There was immediate speculation that Israeli saboteurs were responsible for the blast, which Israeli officials did not go out of their way to dispute. On the contrary, some Israeli leaders regarded the explosion as good news. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said “it would be desirable if they multiply,” although he also said he did not know who or what was responsible.

“This recent event and explosion had no relation to either Israel or America,” the Iranian chief of staff was quoted as saying by the Iran Students’ News Agency. “Except for the fact that the product of the research done at this facility would have delivered a strong punch in the mouth of Israel and its occupying regime.”

He was further quoted as saying “that research will have a short-term delay of a few days, but definitely the forces and compatriots of Martyr Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam will continue on that path and the product of his life’s efforts will be a punch in the mouth of Israel.”

General Moghaddam was thought to be personally close to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, who presided over a vast state funeral for the victims on Monday. Ayatollah Khamenei issued a second condolence on Wednesday in what appeared to reflect his own acute grief at the loss.

“The bloody martyrdom of the honorable I.R.G.C. commander and unassuming scientist Tehrani Moghaddam was a bitter event for us,” the leader was quoted as saying by the Islamic Republic News Agency.

Artin Afkhami contributed reporting from Boston.