Indian intel report says Iran behind bomb blast near Israeli embassy

Iran's notorious Quds Force was behind an explosion near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi earlier this year, a recent report by Indian intelligence agencies has claimed.

A local Shia militant cell backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Corps foreign operations arm was found to be responsible for the blast, the Hindustan Times reported.

The late January explosion resulted in no casualties.

Indian counter-terrorism officials concluded that the IED was likely planted without the intent to kill anyone "perhaps because the Iranians did not want to run afoul of a friendly nation like India". 

"But the message was clear and the threat is real," one expert involved in the investigation told the Hindustan Times.

A handwritten note found at the scene of the explosion and addressed to Ambassador Ron Malka warned Israel of revenge for the assassinations of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Soleimani was killed in a January 2020 drone strike by the US.

Tehran has blamed the November 2020 killing of Fakhrizadeh on arch-enemy Israel.

Israel did not react to the accusation but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in 2018 that Fakhrizadeh headed a secret nuclear arms programme.

The explosion took place on the 29th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Israel.

The countries have become close allies, and India is now one of the biggest buyers of Israeli defence equipment.

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