Iran: Bombings Point to a Potential Fifth Column

The Iranian press is fuming over allegations that the United Kingdom played a role in the Oct. 15 bombings in the Iranian city of Ahvaz. Tehran cannot ignore that a sizeable opposition force, consisting of ethnic Arabs, exists in southwestern Iran — a force interested in fomenting an insurgency against the regime. Western intelligence, however, has its own serious interest in seeing that Iran remains off balance as developments in Iraq and the Iranian nuclear controversy provide the backdrop to the Islamic republic's rise in influence on the international stage.