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11:45 p.m. IRDT, 2 Mordad/July 23 Israeli President Shimon Peres said Monday that his country's government has "enough information to accuse" Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah of responsibility for last week's deadly bombing of a tourist bus in Bulgaria that killed five Israelis. In an interview with CNN's Elise Labott, Peres stated his belief that more attacks are being planned as part of what he called an "open war of Iran against Israel." CNN reports:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Iran and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement were responsible for a number of attacks and attempted attacks against Israeli targets in Thailand, Georgia, India, Greece, Cyprus and other countries.Asked whether the Bulgaria bombing and the other attempted attacks were revenge for the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, which Iran blames on Israel, Peres said that Israel has never claimed responsibility for the killings. But he noted that Israel has a right to prevent killing of its citizens.
"We don't have an initiative of terror," Peres said. "We don't do it. But self-defense is the right and the must of every people."
He said Israel's policy was one of "prevention," rather than "retaliation."
Characterizing Iran as a "center of terror," Peres declared, "Israel is not threatening Iran. Iran is threatening Israel. It's not a [bilateral] war; it's a one-sided attack."
Iran's primary state-run English-language news outlet, Press TV, has promoted the theory that last Wednesday's bombing in the Black Sea city of Burgas was a "false flag" operation perpetrated by Israel against its own citizens because, in the description of analyst Kevin Barrett, "Netanyahu is hysterically seeking a pretext for war on Iran."
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