Iran and Arabs reticent on New Delhi bombing

Both Iran and the Arab World are under-reporting the bombing in New Delhi which injured an Israeli diplomat on Monday. The coverage is largely based on Western news agencies and the Israeli press.

Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s official news network, dedicated no independent report to the bombing, including it only in a daily roundup of Lebanese newspapers.

Most major Arab newspapers led their reporting with the Israeli accusation of Iran as perpetrator of the attacks. A-Sharq Al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned newspaper, used the Israeli accusation as its headline: “Israel: The attack on the two embassies bears the fingerprints of Iran and Hezbollah.” Al-Hayat, a liberal newspaper published in London, led with the Iranian denial of the Israeli accusation. It then devoted the first half of its coverage to the Israeli version and the American condemnation of the attack, before turning to the Iranian version. Both major newspapers featured the story on their front pages.

Iran, for its part, distanced itself from the New Delhi attack, condemning “all terrorist attacks” and adding that it is normally the first victims of such attacks. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast spoke to the Alam Television station on Monday, strongly condemning the accusations of the “Zionist entity” of Iranian involvement in the attacks.

The failed terrorist attack in Bangkok, Thailand, attributed to an Iranian national, has not been reported by Arab media as of yet.