Iranian comedy hour: Iran says Israel attacked its own embassies

Iranian Foreign Ministry says attacks on Israeli embassies in India and Georgia are meant to tarnish Iran's good image and peace-loving nature.

(JPost) Israel launched attacks against its own embassies in New Dehli and Tbilisi in order to "tarnish Iran's friendly ties with the host countries," Iran said on Monday, after denying Israeli accusations that Tehran and its ally in Hezbollah involved in the plots.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that "Israel perpetrated the terror actions to launch psychological warfare against Iran," according to the state Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

He said that such actions were in Israel's "innate nature," adding that Iran condemns terrorism in the strongest terms.

Earlier Monday, the Iranian ambassador to New Delhi rejected as "sheer lies" accusations that it was involved in a bomb attack on the Israeli embassy in India.

"Any terrorist attack is condemned (by Iran) and we strongly reject the untrue comments by an Israeli official," Mehdi Nabizadeh was quoted as saying by IRNA, referring to accusations by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that Iran was responsible. "These accusations are untrue and sheer lies, like previous times."

Netanyahu placed blame for the dual attacks against Israel's diplomatic missions in New Delhi and Tbilisi Monday squarely on Tehran, saying that Israel will continue to "systematically and with patience, use a strong arm" against international terrorism emanating from Iran.

Netanyahu said that Iran, and its proxy Hezbollah, is responsible for a string of attempted attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets abroad in recent months, including in Thailand and Azerbaijan. In each of the previous cases, he said, the attacks were thwarted with the help of the local authorities.

"Iran, which is behind these attacks, is the greatest exporter of terrorism in the world," Netanyahu said. "The Israeli government and its security forces will continue to work together with local security services against these terrorist actions."

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