Fatal Blast in Tehran Is Reported, Denied
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NICOSIA, Cyprus — The office of exiled Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr said an explosion killed 20 people Wednesday at the Tehran home of Iran’s spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
However, Khamenei’s office reportedly denied the assertion, and another leading Iranian dissident group said no explosion took place at Khamenei’s residence.
U.S. State Department officials in Washington said that they had checked out the report and found nothing to verify it. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
Khamenei, 53, is successor as supreme leader to the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He also commands the armed forces.
“We do not know if Mr. Khamenei escaped the attack,” said the statement from Bani-Sadr’s office in Versailles, just outside Paris.
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