Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has paid a secret visit to Ahwaz a week after bomb attacks in the city, according to a report sent from Ahwaz to the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS).
Ahmadinejad was reportedly staying in Shahrak Naft near Ahwaz City at the house of the regional executive of the National Iranian Oil Company. He had talks related to the oil industry at the same time as the Iranian government has called for cuts in OPEC's oil output. There was a high level of security surrounding his visit, including an official media black-out. On Wednesday, Ahmadinejad travelled to neighbouring Bushehr.
Meanwhile, the Iranian government has announced that it has arrested at least 50 Ahwazi Arabs in connection with the bomb attacks, which it blames on the British government. Although ministers claim they have evidence of the direct involvement of British soldiers from Basra, they have not published any evidence.
Hamid Zangeneh, a non-Arab Majlis member for Khuzestan aligned with the former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezaei, has said that Arabs should be taught a lesson with high profile executions, martial law and a crack-down by security forces. In an interview with the Mehr News Agency, Zangeneh accused the regime of not doing enough, despite the killings and mass arrests of Arabs. Ahwazi Arab leaders are concerned that he is trying to fuel violent vigilantism against Arab civilians, particularly Arab leaders such as former Majlis member Jasem Shadidzadeh Al-Tamimi and the journalist and writer Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf.
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