Israel: Iran ‘aggression’ destabilizing world

Thai police via AFP-Getty Images

Security camera images show three men who Thai police suspect were involved in bomb blasts in Bangkok on Tuesday.

Updated at 8:15 a.m. ET: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Iran is destabilizing the world and its aggression must be stopped.

At Israel’s parliament, Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s claims that Iran was behind explosions this week that targeted Israeli diplomats in India and the former Soviet republic of Georgia, as Israeli offficials strongly suggested Iran was behind bomb blasts in Bangkok Tuesday.


“If this aggression isn’t halted, ultimately it will spread to many other countries,” Netanyahu said.

“Iran’s terror operations are now exposed for all to see,” Netanyahu added, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “Iran is undermining the world’s stability and harms innocent diplomats. World countries must condemn Iran’s terror acts and draw a red line.”

Shortly after he spoke, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad personally began the process of loading a nuclear reactor in Tehran with domestically made fuel rods, according the the state news agency.

Iranian state television earlier reported that Iran would also unveil a new generation of domestically made uranium enrichment centrifuges that have “higher speed and production capacity.”

The development came as Iran said it had cut oil exports to six European countries — the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal — in response to European Union sanctions over its disputed nuclear program.

Iran insists the program is for peaceful purposes, but the U.S., Israel and other countries suspect they are trying to build nuclear weapons.

Israel has accused Iran of waging a campaign of state terror and has threatened military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, while Iran has blamed the Jewish state for the recent killings of Iranian atomic scientists. Iran has denied responsibility for the three bombing incidents this week.

In Thailand, two explosions tore through a busy neighborhood in Bangkok where police caught two Iranian nationals. NBC’s Brian Williams reports.

On Monday in New Delhi, an explosion tore through an Israeli diplomatic vehicle, wounding the driver and a diplomat’s wife, according to Indian officials.

Iran: Nuclear facilities immune to cyber attack

On the same day in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, authorities say attackers planted an explosive device on the car of a driver for the Israeli Embassy, but it was discovered and defused before it went off.

 Meanwhile, Thailand’s government was struggling to piece together what three Iranian men were plotting when a cache of explosives detonated by mistake in their home in Bangkok’s busy Sukhumvit Road area Tuesday.

Police released images of  three suspects, two of whom were arrested in Thailand, while a third was detained in Malaysia Wednesday.

Israel’s ambassador to Thailand, Itzhak Shoha, said Wednesday that homemade “sticky” bombs discovered in a Bangkok house after the accidental blast were similar to devices used in India and Georgia, building on his country’s claims the incidents are part of a covert terror campaign by Iran.

“They are similar to the ones used in Delhi and in Tbilisi,” Shoham said. “From that we can assume that there is the same network of terror.” That and the arrests of Iranians in Thailand “again leaves not too much room to assume who was behind it,” Shoham said.

PhotoBlog: Graphic photo of bomb scene

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the allegations “baseless,” saying Israel was trying to damage its relations with Thailand and fuel “conspiracy” theories.

Thai bomb disposal teams searched the Iranians’ house again Wednesday looking for more evidence.

Two of the men were initially detained but Thai immigration police chief Lt. Gen. Wiboon Bangthamai said a third suspect, named as Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, had flown to Malaysia.

The man boarded a flight bound for Kuala Lumpur Tuesday night, Bangthamai said.

However on Wednesday, police in Malaysia said the third suspect had been arrested.

Security forces in Thailand were also searching for an Iranian woman who they said had originally rented the house.

Confessions?
Late Tuesday, Israel’s Channel 10 TV quoted unidentified Thai authorities as saying the captured Iranians confessed to targeting Israeli interests.

Thai police have named the Iranian pair in custody as Saeid Moradi, who lost at least one leg in a self-inflicted grenade blast as he tried to flee police, and Mohummad Hazaei, who was detained Tuesday as he tried to board a flight to Malaysia.

Bangkok blasts wound Iranian attacker, 4 others

Both men are now facing four criminal charges, including possession of explosives, attempted murder, attempted murder of a policeman and causing explosions that damaged property.

Top security agencies called a news conference in which authorities acknowledged to being caught by surprise and said they had little information about who the alleged attackers were or their possible targets.

National Security Council chief Wichean Potephosree said the government had not yet determined if there was any link between the events in Bangkok, New Delhi and Tbilisi.

Israel accuses Iran of bombings in India, Georgia

“We haven’t found any links but we are still investigating,” Wichean said. “We admit there was magnetic component, aiming at individuals, but the origin of the magnets still has to be investigated.”

When police searched the house, the bomb squad found and defused two explosives, each made of three or four pounds of C-4 explosives inside a pair of radios.

Wichean said that the type of explosives suggested they would have been used to target individuals.

“Based on the equipment and materials we found, they were aimed at individuals and the destruction capacity was not intended for large crowds or big buildings,” Wichean said.

Wichean also acknowledged his nation could be “a weak link” for international terrorism “because we are open to foreigners.”

Thailand itself has rarely been a target for international terrorists, but its main airport is a major hub for Asian air travel and its government — heavily reliant on tourism — is known for tolerance but criticized for corruption and graft.  

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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