| 1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing | |
|---|---|
 The Iranian PM building after the explosion | |
| Location | Tehran, Iran |
| Date | 30 August 1981 15,[1] 14:45[2] (+3:30) |
| Target | Iranian officials |
Attack type | Bombing |
| Deaths | 8 |
| Injured | 23 |
| Assailants | Masoud Keshmiri (agent of MEK) |
The office of Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Prime Minister of Iran, was bombed on 30 August 1981 by the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK),[3][4] killing Prime Minister Bahonar, President Mohammad Ali Rajai, and six other Iranian government officials.[5] The briefcase bombing came two months after the Hafte Tir bombing, which killed over seventy senior Iranian officials, including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti, then Iran's second-highest official. It is also reported that the director general of the prime minister's administration (as a result of suffocation in the elevator) and an elderly woman bystander outside the building were killed.
According to sources, nobody "knew exactly who had been in the room at the time of the detonation." Eventually, there were three participants that had been unaccounted for that including Masoud Keshmiri, Rajai, and Bahonar. It was later revealed that both Rajai and Bahonar had died in the explosion.[6] According to author Albert Benliot, Ayatollah Khomeini charged the MEK with responsibility for the bombing, "however, there has been much speculation among academics and observers that these bombings may have actually been planned by senior Islamic Republican Party (IRP) leaders, including later Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, to rid themselves of rivals within the IRP."[7]
Afterward, the interim presidential council announced five national days of mourning, and Iran's Parliament selected Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani as the next prime minister. Parliament held an election on 2 October 1981 to elect Bahonar's successor;[5]
- ^ "Shahrivar 8th in the mirror of memories; The hard times of bitter assassinations: Today is the anniversary of the explosion of the Office of the Prime Minister". Farhikhtegan Newspaper (in Persian). Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- ^ "The documents of suspects of PM office + Handwriting of the bomber" (in Persian). Fars News Agency. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- ^ Newton, Michael (17 April 2014). Famous Assassinations in World History. ABC-CLIO. p. 27. ISBN 9781610692861. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
- ^ Rubin, Barry; Colp Rubin, Judith (28 January 2015). Chronologies of Modern Terrorism. Routledge. p. 246. ISBN 9781317474654. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
- ^ a b United Press International (14 September 1981). "Iranian Says Secretary to Premier Hid Fatal Bomb in Teheran Office". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
- ^ Muravchik, Joshua (23 July 2013). Trailblazers of the Arab Spring: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East. Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1594036798.
- ^ Katzman, Kenneth (2001). "Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran". In Benliot, Albert V. (ed.). Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?. Nova. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-56072-954-9.