Iran, Russia and others condemn Boston bombings

Both allies and opponents of the United States expressed horror at the deadly Boston Marathon bombings, as sympathetic statements emerged from Canada to China on Tuesday.

Iran denounced the attacks as part of a scourge that should be prevented “irrespective of wherever they occur,” its Foreign Ministry told state news media.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that although some governments may believe that supporting terrorists can benefit them, “the evil phenomenon of terrorism will harm all, and all should rise to counter it,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to help with the investigation, condemning the “barbarous crime,” the Russian state news agency reported. The Associated Press reported that Cuba sent its “most heartfelt condolences.” And in China, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said her country was “firmly opposed to any attack aimed at common people,” according to the New China News Agency.

A chorus of similar statements came from a host of other countries, including Britain, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Sweden. The Yemeni Embassy in Washington called the bombings “horrific” and a “heinous crime.”

From Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai decried the attacks, expressed grief for the victims and tied the suffering in Boston to the struggles in his country.

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“Having suffered from terrorist attacks and civilian casualties for years, our people feel better the pain and suffering arising from such incidents,” Karzai said in a statement.

Even as world leaders offered their sympathies, however, international politics were evident. In his remarks rejecting the bombings, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman appeared to hint at the U.S. decision to remove the Iranian exile group Mujahedin Khalq from its list of terrorist organizations. Iran staunchly opposed the decision last year.

Delisting terrorist groups “under the pretext of freedom” would bring about insecurity, Mehmanparast told the Islamic Republic News Agency.

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In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood said in an English statement that it rejected the bombings and offered its heartfelt sympathies, but Foreign Policy Magazine noted that a senior Brotherhood leader dangled suggestive questions about who was to blame on his Facebook page, tying the Boston bombings to the French offensive in Mali, conflict in Syria and other international conflicts.

“Who disturbed democratic transformations. … Who planted Islamophobia through research, the press, and the media? Who funded the violence?” Essam Erian wrote, according to a translation by Foreign Policy, which called the statement “conspiracy-mongering.”

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