Iran under attack?

Iran under attack?

I travelled to the Iranian province of Sistan Baluchistan last year; this vast, remote frontier, with its semi-desert landscape, is pretty intimidating.

The Iranians say they are fighting a dual war against drugs smugglers and a Sunni group called Jundullah. It is this group that has claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, which killed at least 31 people, including 11 Revolutionary Guards commanders.

When I was in Zahedan, the provincial capital, it was also this group that young soldiers I spoke to feared the most.

Operating from across the Pakistani border, Jundullah uses kidnapping as a tactic, taking their victims into the mountains and using them as a bargaining chip for future prisoner exchanges.

The Iranians don't think Jundullah is working alone. They have long complained of outside forces causing instability here, and they are using this attack to once again accuse foreign entities of interfering in Iran.

Although they won't name these entities directly, they basically mean the United States and Britain, what they call "the Great Satan and the Little Satan". It will be interesting to see what kind of impact all of this will have on the scheduled nuclear talks in Vienna.