Deputy FM calls on world to ground Iranians from air travel

Israel will also file complaint against Tehran at UN Security Council over deadly blast, Danny Ayalon says

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called upon the international community to isolate Iran by grounding its planes, in a bid to prevent terrorism from spreading across the world.

“It is extremely important that the international community denounce and isolate Iran so no Iranian will be able to travel the world,” Ayalon said Thursday, a day after a terrorist attack killed seven and wounded dozens in Burgas, Bulgaria. Israeli officials blame Tehran for the blast, which claimed the lives of six Israeli tourists.

“All of the evidence points to Iran as the one behind the terror attack yesterday,” Ayalon said. “We are aware of their tactics, their infrastructure and, most of all, their insistence of killing Israelis.”

Israel will also file a complaint with the United Nations Security Council against Iran for the country’s alleged sponsorship of anti-Israeli terrorism, Ayalon said Thursday. He also vowed that Israel would take “appropriate” measures in response to Iran’s alleged aggression, but failed to elaborate beyond saying Jerusalem is considering “diplomatic and operational” steps.

Israel accuses Tehran of sponsoring terror against American and Israeli targets across the globe. Several attacks on Israeli interests recently were planned and thwarted in Thailand, Georgia, Kenya and Cyprus. In New Delhi, a bomb planted on a car wounded the wife of an Israeli diplomat. Israel blamed all these incidents on Iran and its ally, Hezbollah.

On Thursday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms.”

“The secretary general expresses his condolences to the victims and their families, to the governments and people of Bulgaria and Israel,” his spokesperson said in a statement.

In the wake of Wednesday’s blast in Burgas, a Black Sea resort town near the Turkish border, Ayalon also called on European governments to add Hezbollah to their list of terrorist organizations. The US, Canada and other countries already classify the group as a terrorist organization.