"Jundollah has been supported by America for its terrorist acts in the past ..., said Jazayeri, deputy head of the dominant ideological wing of Iran's armed forces. Jundollah, a Sunni Muslim rebel group, said it set off the bombs at a prominent Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the city of Zahedan in retaliation for the Islamic Republic's execution in June of Jundollah leader Abdolmalek Rigi.
The United States is embroiled in a stand-off with Iran over its nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is for peaceful energy purposes but Washington and other world powers suspect is a cover to develop the means to build atom bombs. Tehran and Washington severed diplomatic relations shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Jundollah, which says it is fighting for the rights of Iran's Sunni Muslim minority, said Rigi's relatives carried out the bombings targeting a Revolutionary Guards gathering.
The bodies of those killed were buried on Saturday in a ceremony in Zahedan attended by tens of thousands of people, according to Iranian state television. Live footage showed the coffins, shrouded in Iranian flags, being carried on trucks with mourners chanting "Death to America" and demanding punishment of the attackers.
Iran arrested Rigi in February, four months after Jundollah claimed responsibility for a bombing which killed dozens of people, including 15 members of the Guards. That was the deadliest attack in Iran since the 1980s. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province on the border with Sunni Muslim Pakistan. The province is dogged by serious security problems with frequent clashes between Iranian police and drug dealers and bandits.
The United States is embroiled in a stand-off with Iran over its nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is for peaceful energy purposes but Washington and other world powers suspect is a cover to develop the means to build atom bombs. Tehran and Washington severed diplomatic relations shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Jundollah, which says it is fighting for the rights of Iran's Sunni Muslim minority, said Rigi's relatives carried out the bombings targeting a Revolutionary Guards gathering.
The bodies of those killed were buried on Saturday in a ceremony in Zahedan attended by tens of thousands of people, according to Iranian state television. Live footage showed the coffins, shrouded in Iranian flags, being carried on trucks with mourners chanting "Death to America" and demanding punishment of the attackers.
Iran arrested Rigi in February, four months after Jundollah claimed responsibility for a bombing which killed dozens of people, including 15 members of the Guards. That was the deadliest attack in Iran since the 1980s. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province on the border with Sunni Muslim Pakistan. The province is dogged by serious security problems with frequent clashes between Iranian police and drug dealers and bandits.
