TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's judiciary said on Monday it may take legal action against the United States and Britain over a mosque explosion last month that killed 13 people in the southern tourist city of Shiraz.
"Fortunately the investigation into this case is complete and different governments, especially the United States and Britain, supported the bombers," judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said on state television.
"I hope with the information that we have we will be able to present the case before international tribunals," he added. "Those who claim to fight terrorism equipped and financed these elements" who bombed the mosque.
On Thursday Iran blamed Western-backed monarchists for the April 12 bombing which also wounded more than 200. Initial reports said the explosion was a bomb attack, but officials later said it had been an accident.
The blast ripped through a packed mosque during an evening prayer sermon by a prominent local cleric.
Iran has blamed US and British agents based in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan for launching deadly attacks in recent years in border provinces with significant ethnic minority populations.
But the strike in Shiraz was the first in decades in Iran's Persian heartland. The normally placid city is not in a border zone, nor is it home to any significant ethnic or religious minority population.
One of Iran's most famous tourist destinations, Shiraz is popular because of its proximity to important ancient sites from the Achaemenid Empire that ruled much of central and southwest Asia from 550 to 331 BC.
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