Diplomat attack: Iran invites sleuths

Iran has invited Indian investigators and security officials to visit Tehran to probe the explosion that hit an Israeli diplomat's car here on February 13. Four Iranians, Houshang Afshar Irani, Syed Ali Mahdiansadr, Mohammadreza Abolghasemi and Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, are the main accused in the case. India is likely to take up the offer, though there is no decision yet about who would go to Iran. While Sedaghatzadeh has been arrested in Malaysia, where he had fled after a foiled bid in Thailand , the other three are still at large. India has asked for their passport details from Iran and Interpol lookout notices have also been issued. Officials say that this is a positive development as they can collect details about the addresses, occupation and their family from Tehran quickly, instead of waiting for the reply of a Letter Rogatory (LR). The Delhi Police is sending LRs as well to Iran, Thailand and Malaysia along with specific questionnaires seeking details about the investigations. This would be for the first time that any Indian agency would travel to Iran to carry out a probe. "The team would be able to know more about the conspiracy and people behind the blast. The exercise would be a part of collection of evidence," said a senior officer. Iran's offer to help New Delhi has been received with mixed feelings here. So far, the Iranian government has, by and large, refused to acknowledge that the attack could be their doing. But after the Thailand incident that happened soon after the Indian attack, and the Malaysian arrest, the room for deniability reduced significantly. Indian establishment was livid with Iran for bringing their problems with Israel to India. While the Indian government maintains an official silence on Iran's involvement, the MEA, unusually called in the Iranian ambassador and asked for Teheran's assistance to catch the perpetrators. But Iran's response means there is some serious rethinking in Tehran. While there would be a strong temptation to obfuscate the issue, by probably pointing to some "rogue" elements who might want to embarrass the Iranian government, there could also be a realization that the attack had backfired badly on the Iranian establishment since it involves a friendly nation. Delhi Police has already officially claimed that Bangkok and Delhi blasts of February 13 and 14 are linked, and the same module of Iranians was involved in the attacks. Delhi Police had arrested Indian journalist S M A Kazmi for the conspiracy here, while Bangkok Police had held Moradi Saeid and Mohammed Khazaei for the attack there. Investigations suggest that Mahdian Sadr is the main link in both the blasts and he was the one who had convinced Kazmi for helping them in India.