Explosive Opposition

The street near a Tehran railway station was a shambles: blackened cars, shattered glass, women in black chadors weeping as volunteers carried away the wounded. A bomb had exploded during the morning rush hour, killing 18 people and wounding some 300 others. It was the most serious terrorist bombing in Tehran since 1982, when more than 60 people were killed in an explosion at the central telephone and telecommunications center. Two callers to news agencies claimed responsibility for the latest action: the Arya group, a Paris-based collection of exiles who want to restore the Pahlavi monarchy, and a spokesman for the previously unheard-of Unit of Martyr Khalafi. No matter who was to blame for the blast, it was an indication that the five-year-old regime of the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini still faces bitter opposition inside Iran.