Officials Blame Foreigners for Riots in Iran; Paper Cites Economic Policies

Officials in Mashhad--the scene on Saturday of Iran’s worst riots in a decade--are blaming foreigners, enemy agents and opponents of the Islamic revolution for the outburst and faulting police for their failure to control the violence.

But a radical Tehran daily, Salam, has pointed the finger at government economic policies and at official silence about earlier disturbances in other towns.

In public debate about the riot and who is to blame, Khorasan provincial governor Ali Jannati said in an interview published Tuesday that 100 shops and government buildings were destroyed or damaged and a schoolboy shot to death.

He told the newspaper Jomhuri Eslami that interrogation of more than 300 people detained indicated “foreigners and agents of arrogance” were involved.

But Salam said that blaming the riot on opposition and foreign provocation masks the real causes.

The paper linked unrest to President Hashemi Rafsanjani’s economic reforms. It said Iranian officials, who gloated over April race riots in Los Angeles, owe the people an explanation for the riots.

Residents in Mashhad said Tuesday that the city of nearly 2 million in northeastern Iran had still not returned to normal. Many shops remained closed.

Many people stayed home, going out only to buy food, which has rocketed in price, with eggs, for example, costing double.