Dubai murder attests to Israel’s desperation

Iran has described the assassination of a top Hamas official in Dubai and Tehran’s capture of the ringleader of the Jundallah terrorist group as a disgrace for world powers.

“The disgraceful event in Dubai which was disclosed by the Zionist regime [Israel] and the US support for Jundallah terrorist group show that the era of certain power clubs in the world is coming to an end,” said the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili on Sunday.

On January 20, the lifeless body of Hamas commander Mahmud al-Mabhouh was found in his hotel. Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, was widely believed to be behind the hit, given the agency’s track record of overseas assassinations.

The case dipped into soaring controversy when 11 people, initially identified by the Dubai police as suspected murderers of al-Mabhouh, were found to have been traveling on fake European passports.

The alleged identity theft drew sharp criticism against Tel Aviv and prompted Britain, France, Germany and Ireland to call in Israeli ambassadors for the use of such passports seemingly issued by these countries.

However, police authorities in Dubai, who have been adding to the list of suspected assassins, ruled out the ID theft scenario and insisted that the documents were not forged.

Jalili said that while world powers possess different facilities they have chosen the path of terror.

“Is this not proof of their frustration and failure?” he asked, adding that the use of assassinations by world powers shows how desperate they have become in dealing with independent nations.

“They plan to continue their way through the path of terror,” the SNSC secretary added.

Jalili accused the United States of funding terrorist groups in the region, saying it showed that US policies in the Middle East have failed.

Iran on Tuesday captured Abdolmalek Rigi, the ringleader of the Pakistan-based Jundallah terrorist group, while he was flying from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan.

Iran’s most wanted man on Thursday Rigi confessed to offers of unlimited support by the US spy agency, the CIA.

Jundallah militants regularly cross over into Iran from their hideouts in neighboring Pakistan to harass, kidnap or attack civilians and police officers.