Iran blames Britain for disturbances in oil region

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Mar. 31 – The Islamic Republic’s paramilitary police chief charged on Friday that Britain was fomenting unrest in south-western Iran’s oil-rich province of Khuzestan and announced that his force would be dispatching large numbers of units to the province to prevent further disturbances. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Mar. 31 – The Islamic Republic’s paramilitary police chief charged on Friday that Britain was fomenting unrest in south-western Iran’s oil-rich province of Khuzestan and announced that his force would be dispatching large numbers of units to the province to prevent further disturbances.

“We see indications of [British”> provocations aimed at creating unrest in this region”, Brigadier General Ismaeil Ahmadi-Moqaddam told the government-run news agency Fars.

Ahmadi-Moqaddam said that the roots of disturbances in the province could be traced back to the “occupiers over Iran’s western border”, a reference to Britain and the United States.

He said that his force would increase its agents, budget, and resources in the province over the next 12 months.

There were several spates of bombings in the troubled region earlier this year and in 2005. Ahwaz, the capital of the Arab-dominated province, has been the scene of unremitting anti-government protests since early 2005.

Earlier this month, the State Security Forces chief announced that all those responsible for the recent bombings in Khuzestan had been arrested and had ties to Britain.

“The roots of these bombings are from abroad and [the attacks”> were planned by untouched networks”, Moqaddam said. Britain was organising the networks, he said without elaborating.

The general, a former senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, is hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s brother-in-law.

London has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.