Bangkok blasts prompt more accusations against Iran a day after Israelis targeted

By Joel Greenberg, Simon Denyer and Debbi Wilgoren, WashPost

Updated: Tuesday, February 14, 11:01 AM

JERUSALEM — Israel on Tuesday ratcheted up its accusations that Iran is waging an international campaign of terror, after a bizarre series of explosions in Bangkok during which an Iranian man armed with a grenade apparently blew off his own legs.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in Singapore as part of a tour of Southeast Asia, said the blasts demonstrated the continuing threat posed by Iran and the militant Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which Tehran funds and supports.

“Iran and Hezbollah are unrestrained terrorist elements, a danger to the stability of the region and a danger to world stability,” Barak said.

A statement from his office noted that Barak visited Bangkok on Sunday. Israeli authorities last month tipped off Thai police to a potential attack allegedly being planned in their capital, resulting in police detaining and questioning a suspected Hezbollah member.

Inside Israel, minister for public security Yitzhak Aharonovich said he had ordered police to “raise the level of alert, with an emphasis on public places” after attempted attacks Monday on Israeli diplomats in New Delhi and Tbilisi, Georgia. Israel also blamed those attacks on Iran.

(More here.)