Blasts at Iranian embassy kill 23 on eve of nuclear talks

Two suicide bombings rocked Iran’s embassy compound in Lebanon yesterday, killing at least 23 people including an Iranian cultural attache, and hurling bodies and burning wreckage across a debris-strewn street.

A Lebanon-based al-Qaeda-linked group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed responsibility and threatened further attacks unless Iran withdraws forces from Syria, where they have backed President Bashar al-Assad’s war against rebels.

Security camera footage showed a man in an explosives belt rushing towards the outer wall of the embassy in Beirut before blowing himself up, Lebanese officials said. They said a car bomb parked two buildings away from the compound had caused the second, deadlier explosion.

In a Twitter post, Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat, the religious guide of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, said the group had carried out the attack: “It was a double martyrdom operation by two of the Sunni heroes of Lebanon.”

Lebanon targeted
Lebanon has suffered a series of sectarian clashes and bomb attacks on Sunni and Shia Muslim targets which have been linked to the Syrian conflict and which killed scores of people this year.

The bombings took place on the eve of more talks between world powers and Iran in Geneva over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme. They came close to agreeing an interim deal earlier this month.

The bombs struck as Mr Assad’s forces extended their gains in Syria before talks the UN hopes to convene in mid-December and which Iran says it is ready to attend.

'Historic opportunity'
In remarks released yesterday, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme can now be resolved and world powers should seize a "historic opportunity" to clinch a deal.

In Washington, President Barack Obama attempted to build support for a prospective Iran deal with sceptical members of the US Senate, some of whom have been considering adding new sanctions on Tehran in a move that the White House argues would harm diplomatic efforts.

In another sign of a thaw between the West and Iran, David Cameron telephoned Hassan Rouhani, marking the first time a British prime minister has called an Iranian president in more than a decade.

“Both leaders agreed that significant progress had been made in the recent Geneva negotiations and that it was important to seize the opportunity presented by the further round of talks which get under way tomorrow,” Mr Cameron’s office said. – (Reuters)