MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian analyst said on Monday further suicide bomb attacks could not be ruled out in Iran as radical groups intensify their activities.
A suicide bomb attack on the Revolutionary Guards in the country's volatile southeast Sunday killed between 42 and 49, according to different sources. Several commanders of the elite force died in the attack.
"I believe that such acts will be repeated. After all, the situation is not getting any better," said Yelena Melkunyan, a professor at the Russian State Humanitarian University and senior research associate at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Oriental Studies.
"The authorities have not reached a compromise solution; they insisted on their decision [the outcome of June presidential elections], ignoring the interests of other parties involved, other political forces. Needless to say, in this situation, such acts could continue."
She linked Sunday's attack, which was reportedly claimed by a Sunni insurgent group, to "general instability in Iran."
Iranian President Ahmadinejad won a landslide victory in June 12 elections amid opposition claims that the vote was rigged. Iran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, confirmed the election results.
Melkunyan said that since the presidential elections, the opposition, including radical organizations that use terrorist methods, "has intensified its activity, galvanizing into action all those unhappy with the ruling regime."
President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier on Monday that Russia was willing to cooperate with Iran in the fight against terrorism and extremism.
In a message to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Medvedev condemned Sunday's terrorist attack and expressed condolences to the victims.
Dozens of people were injured in the attack, which took place in the city of Pisheen, in Sistan-Baluchistan Province near the border with Pakistan.
