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| Rumors of Western support for Iranian dissident militia groups have broad backing | | Print | |
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Catherine Philp and Sheera Frenkel Iranian accusations of Western backing for Jundallah, the Sunni rebel group, may not be as fanciful as they seem. Tehran often blames the United States and Britain for any internal unrest, including the uproar after President Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election. But rumours of support for dissident militia groups such as Jundallah have far broader backing. The group, which also calls itself the Iranian People’s Resistance Movement, was founded in 2002 and started its armed campaign in 2005. Its main cause is defending Shia Iran’s Sunni minority, concentrated in its poorest province, Sistan-Baluchistan. As the Taleban evolved as Pakistan’s tool of influence in Afghanistan, so Jundallah evolved through shifting alliances with other parties. |
