Ripples from Iran

Two IEDs in the last 24 hours, one detonating in India and one rendered safe in Georgia, both allegedly linked to Iran or possibly Hezbollah. In both cases the targets appear to be Israeli diplomatic officials and their families.  A colleague over at IMSL Insight discussing possible plots in Azerbaijan in a post a couple of days ago points out that the knee-jerk response of blaming Hezbollah, even on the anniversary of the assasination of Imad Mugniyeh, may be incorrect and suggesting the plot in Azerbaijan was directly the work of the Iranian regime.

The Georgian attack sounds as if it was simply a grenade fastened to the underside of the diplomats vehicle with, at a guess, a simple string to a wheel to pull the pin or the grenade from an enclosure.   The Indian attack could very well be the same sort of incident, looking at the damage to the car. (But note I haven’t yet the details to confirm this assessment). Both seem a little amateur for either Hezbollah or Iran.

Last month Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, the spokesman for Iran’s Joint Armed Forces Staff, was quoted by the semiofficial ISNA news agency last month as saying that Tehran was “reviewing the punishment” of “behind-the-scene elements” involved in the assassinations in Iran in the last few months, so a motive – retaliation- is clearly present.

Note that the vehicle attacked in India was bearing “diplomatic” plates.