Assassination bombing of Iranian leaders
1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing
|
---|
|
The Iranian PM building after the explosion
|
Location
| Tehran
, Iran
|
---|
Date
| 30 August 1981
(
1981-08-30
)
15,
[1]
14:45
[2]
(
+3:30
)
|
---|
Target
| Iranian officials
|
---|
Attack type
| Bombing
|
---|
Deaths
| 8
|
---|
Injured
| 23
|
---|
Assailants
| Masoud Keshmiri
(agent of
MEK
)
|
---|
The office of
Mohammad Javad Bahonar
, Prime Minister of Iran, was bombed on 30 August 1981 by the
People's Mujahedin of Iran
(MEK),
[3]
[4]
killing Bahonar, President
Mohammad Ali Rajai
, and six other Iranian government officials.
[5]
The briefcase bombing came two months after the
Hafte Tir bombing
, which killed over seventy senior Iranian officials, including Chief Justice
Mohammad Beheshti
, then Iran's second-highest official.
According to sources, nobody "knew exactly who had been in the room at the time of the detonation." Eventually, there were three participants that had been unaccounted for that including
Masoud Keshmiri
, Rajai, and Bahonar. It was later revealed that both Rajai and Bahonar had died in the explosion.
[6]
According to Albert Benliot,
Ayatollah Khomeini
charged the MEK with responsibility for the bombing, "however, there has been much speculation among academics and observers that these bombings may have actually been planned by senior
Islamic Republican Party
(IRP) leaders, including later Iranian President
Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani
, to rid themselves of rivals within the IRP."
[7]
Afterward, the interim presidential council announced five
national days of mourning
, and Iran's
Parliament
selected Ayatollah
Mahdavi Kani
as the next prime minister.
Parliament held an election on 2 October 1981 to elect Bahonar's successor;
[5]
Bombing
[
edit
]
On 30 August 1981 a bomb exploded in the office of Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Prime Minister of Iran, which killed Bahonar, President Mohammad Ali Rajai and some other officials.
According to the survivors, the bomb exploded when one of the victims opened a briefcase brought by
Masoud Keshmiri
as an "agent of MEK".
[8]
The explosion destroyed the first floor. Due to their severe burns, the corpses were not easily identified. Rajai and Bahonar were identified through their
teeth
.
[6]
They had won the election with 91 percent of the vote and were in power for less than four weeks before the assassination.
[8]
Their funeral was held the next day with nearly 500,000 attendees.
[6]
Prominent officials killed
[
edit
]
- President Mohammad Ali Rajai
- Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar
- Col. Vahid Dastjerdi, chief of Iranian police
- Abdol Hossein Daftarian
[9]
Suspects
[
edit
]
Although no group claimed responsibility for the bombing, it was nevertheless attributed to the MEK.
[10]
Ann K. Reed notes that Western observers believe the
People's Mujahedin of Iran
(MEK) was "most likely to have been responsible for the bomb blasts of June 28 and August 30." However, Van England notes that "the explosions were set off by insiders ? the first by an accomplice working in the offices of the
IRP
, the second by the guard in charge of security at Prime Minister Bahonar's headquarters." Mangol Bayat also expressed doubts that the MEK would be capable the attacks "since infiltration of the regime at the very high level would have been necessary."
[11]
The Islamic Republic of Iran later claimed that the attack was carried out by MEK agent
Masoud Keshmiri
, secretary of Bahonar's office and of the
Supreme National Security Council
,
[12]
who used a fake passport to escape Iran after the attack.
More than twenty suspects were identified in the subsequent investigation, including
Masoud Keshmiri
, Ali Akbar Tehrani, Mohammad Kazem Peiro Razawi, Khosro Ghanbari Tehrani, Javad Ghadiri, Mohsen Sazgara, Taghi Mohammadi, and Habibollah Dadashi.
[13]
Perpetrator
[
edit
]
The Islamic Republic of Iran identified
Masoud Keshmiri
(who had served as Bahonar's office secretary for a year prior to the bombing) as the perpetrator. An official in the Prosecutor General's office said that Keshmiri had concealed his anti-government activities so well that a corpse mistaken for his was buried on 31 August with full honors as a
martyr
of the
Islamic revolution
.
[5]
Abdol Hossein Daftarian was stuck in the elevator after the explosion, where he suffocated to death. The MEK bought some time for Keshmiri by spreading the rumor that the man found in the elevator was actually him. Although the Iranian authorities arrested and executed numerous MEK agents,
[8]
Keshmiri fled the country using a fake passport.
[9]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
Parliament held an election on 2 October 1981 to elect Bahonar's successor. Tehran radio also said that the Islamic Republic would "continue the firing squad executions of opponents blamed for assassinating the original inner circle of the Islamic leadership".
[5]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Shahrivar 8th in the mirror of memories; The hard times of bitter assassinations: Today is the anniversary of the explosion of the Office of the Prime Minister"
.
Farhikhtegan Newspaper
(in Persian). Archived from
the original
on 13 December 2017
. Retrieved
27 May
2017
.
- ^
"The documents of suspects of PM office + Handwriting of the bomber"
(in Persian).
Fars News Agency
. Archived from
the original
on 13 December 2017
. Retrieved
28 May
2017
.
- ^
Newton, Michael (17 April 2014).
Famous Assassinations in World History
. ABC-CLIO. p. 27.
ISBN
9781610692861
.
Archived
from the original on 4 November 2021
. Retrieved
4 November
2020
.
- ^
Rubin, Barry; Colp Rubin, Judith (28 January 2015).
Chronologies of Modern Terrorism
. Routledge. p. 246.
ISBN
9781317474654
.
Archived
from the original on 4 November 2021
. Retrieved
4 November
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
United Press International
(14 September 1981).
"Iranian Says Secretary to Premier Hid Fatal Bomb in Teheran Office"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on 13 December 2017
. Retrieved
14 March
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
Muravchik, Joshua (23 July 2013).
Trailblazers of the Arab Spring: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East
. Encounter Books.
ISBN
978-1594036798
.
- ^
Katzman, Kenneth (2001). "Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran". In Benliot, Albert V. (ed.).
Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?
.
Nova
. p. 101.
ISBN
978-1-56072-954-9
.
- ^
a
b
c
Newton, Michael (17 April 2014).
Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia [2 volumes]
. ABC-CLIO. p. 77.
ISBN
9781610692861
. Retrieved
14 March
2017
.
- ^
a
b
"When the secret of prime minister's elevator was decoded"
. Defa Press.
Archived
from the original on 19 May 2018
. Retrieved
27 May
2017
.
- ^
Ram, Haggay (Summer 1992). "Crushing the Opposition: Adversaries of the Islamic Republic of Iran".
Middle East Journal
.
46
(3): 426?439.
JSTOR
42763892
.
- ^
Reed, Ann K. (1 January 1981). "Iran's Mujahideen: At the Center of Opposition".
Harvard International Review
.
4
(3): 10?12.
JSTOR
42763892
.
- ^
"Iran: Secret agent was bomber"
.
The Spokesman-Review
. Associated Press. 14 September 1981.
Archived
from the original on 2 November 2021
. Retrieved
15 June
2017
.
- ^
"Unsaid facts about Keshmiri, prime suspect of PM office bombing"
.
Political Studies and Research Institute
(in Persian).
Archived
from the original on 4 February 2019
. Retrieved
28 May
2017
.