Twelve people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion among a crowd watching a military parade in a city in northwestern Iran today.
A local official blamed the attack on "anti-revolutionary" militants.
Some 35 people were wounded, 15 critically, in the blast in the city of Mahabad, in a predominantly Kurdish area near the borders of Iraq and Turkey, the ISNA news agency reported.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but local officials blamed militants, possibly helped by foreign countries wishing to harm the Islamic Republic during "Sacred Defence" celebrations, an annual ceremony for the Iranian military.
"This bomb was a time-bomb planted on a tree among the people and it went off at 10:20 (7.50 am Irish time)," the website of state-run television IRIB quoted a military official as saying.
"Counter-revolutionary groups, by inserting themselves among the people attending the armed forces parade, showed their heinous face," said Vahid Jalalzadeh, the provincial governor of Iran's West Azerbaijan province.
Television footage showed troops marching past a ceremonial podium when a blast happened. Pictures of the aftermath showed blood on the ground, shoes and an abandoned pram.
The attack occurred as president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York amid a standoff between Tehran and major powers over Iran's nuclear programme, which the West suspects is aimed at making weapons.
On August 4th a homemade explosive went off near Mr Ahmadinejad's motorcade as he was travelling to the western city of Hamadan. He was unharmed and officials said the blast was just a firecracker.
Reuters