Iran denies Ahmadinejad assassination claim

Iran Focus: Tehran, Aug. 04 – Sources in the office of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed, then denied, that the hard-line President’s motorcade convoy came under attack on Wednesday minutes before he gave a speech in Hamedan, western Iran, broadcasted live on state television.

Iran Focus

Tehran, Aug. 04 – Sources in the office of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed, then denied, that the hard-line President’s motorcade convoy came under attack on Wednesday minutes before he gave a speech in Hamedan, western Iran, broadcasted live on state television.

The website Khabar Online said that a homemade hand-grenade was hurled at the motorcade and exploded about 100 metres from Ahmadinejad’s car. The Fars news agency, close to the Revolutionary Guards, and Raja News, run by Ahmadinejad’s allies, gave similar accounts.

Dubai-based Al Arabiya television reported that an attacker had thrown a bomb at Ahmadinejad’s convoy before being detained. The report said the bomb had hit a car carrying journalists and presidential staff.

The main opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) denied any involvement.

“The alleged attack has nothing to do with the PMOI”, Shahin Gobadi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in an emailed statement. The PMOI is the major faction of the NCRI coalition.

Khabar Online and other online state media outlets later removed their original reports from their websites.

State television quoted an official in Ahmadinejad’s office as denying an attack had taken place. Within minutes Fars news agency changed its story to say a “firecracker” had gone off near the motorcade. It claimed that a jubilant supporter of Ahmadinejad had hurled a firecracker to celebrate his arrival in the city.