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U.S. Blames Iran Over 1996 Saudi Bombing
WASHINGTON, June 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - United States Attorney General John Ashcroft accused elements of the Iranian government of being directly involved in the bombing of a military base in Saudi Arabia in 1996.
His comments followed the indictment of 14 people on Thursday in the Saudi attack, in which a truck loaded with explosives exploded outside a military housing complex, the Khobar Towers, in Dhahran in eastern Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. airmen stationed there, and wounding more than 370, news agencies reported.
U.S. President George W. Bush promised to continue searching for those responsible for the bombing of the high-rise dormitory and said that more people might be charged.
"The indictment explains that elements of the Iranian government inspired, supported and supervised members of Saudi Hezbollah" to carry out the bombing, Ashcroft said in announcing the charges.
But the indictment did not charge, or even name, any members of the Iranian government. The United States has long accused Iran's Islamic government of backing international "terrorism".
Iran has denied any involvement in the Saudi attack, saying such charges were made to shake Iranian-Saudi relations, currently mending following a drought in relations since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, news agencies reported.
And in 1998, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said the bombing was the work of Saudi dissidents acting alone.
Reports in Washington say there are divergent views as to whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) wanted to charge officials in Iran over the bombing or not, as political pressure by the Clinton administration prevented such a thing, BBC reported online.
Also, Ashcroft has indicated that there is no proof as yet that Iranian authorities sponsored the Khobar Towers attack, saying there was not enough hard evidence to make such a charge.
The U.S. indictment, however, does say those indicted were trained in Hezbollah-controlled areas of Lebanon and Iran.
Nine of the 14 defendants are charged with 46 separate offences, including conspiracy to kill federal employees, to use weapons of mass destruction, bombing, and murder. Five others are each charged with conspiracy relating to the bombing.
Those charges, if proved and convicted in a trial, could result in the death penalty for the indictees. About 40 of the charges are punishable by death, while other charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
However, none of the indictees are in U.S. custody and it is unclear if any of them will ever stand trial in the U.S.
The indictment alleges that the bombing was part of an attempt to expel Americans from Saudi Arabia.
The bombing occurred on June 25, 1996, while the indictment comes just days before the five-year statute of limitations on some of the charges was to expire.
FBI Director Louis Freeh told a news conference those charged in the indictments "are not all in custody" but declined to say how many were. He said there was a possibility some of the fugitives were in Iran.
Meanwhile, an indictment against Iranian officials would raise the possibility of demands for military action, or some other form of retaliation against the Iranian government.
Freeh said the indictment contained 35 references to Iran, but emphasized that "diplomatic considerations" played no part in the charges that were brought.
Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said there may be links between Iran's Shiite-led Islamic government and its co-religionist allies in Sunni-led Saudi Arabia. But said that it may be harder to make the connection between Iran and the actual bombing.
Cordesman noted that relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia were poor in the mid-1990s, to the extent that Iran was supporting the Saudi Hezbollah at the time, and that its efforts may have been directed at the Saudi monarchy, and not the United States, Western news agencies reported.
The bomb was estimated to be larger than the one that destroyed the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, and more than twice as powerful as the one used at the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.
Dhahran was also the site of the worst U.S. loss in the 1991 Gulf War. An Iraqi Scud missile hit an American barracks on Feb. 25, 1991, killing 28 soldiers.
A witness to the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, Mohamed, a 27-year-old businessman who only gave his first name, said of the indictments: "Americans hastily point a finger at us. They should be more patient and wait for an answer from our side.''
"We are Muslims, and Islam teaches tolerance. The explosion was an act of nonbelievers," he said.
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