The office of Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Prime Minister of Iran, was bombed on 30 August 1981 by the People's Mujahedin of Iran, killing Bahonar, President Mohammad Ali Rajai, and six other Iranian government officials. 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. 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 included Masoud Keshmiri, Rajai, and Bahonar. It was later revealed that both Rajai and Bahonar had died in the explosion. According to 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 IRP leaders, including later Iranian PresidentAli Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, to rid themselves of rivals within the IRP." Afterwards, the interim presidential council announced five national days of mourning, and Iran's Parliament selected Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani as the next prime minister.
Bombing
According to the survivors, the bomb exploded when one of the victims opened a briefcase brought by Masoud Keshmiri as an "agent of MEK". Ettela'at reported that the explosion destroyed the first floor and partially damaged the second floor of the Prime Minister's building, located on Pastor Street. Rajai, Bahonar, and military and security officials were killed. The injured were rescued from the rubble and transported to the hospital. Due to their severe burns, the corpses were not easily identified, and some of the victims were identified through their teeth.
Although no group claimed responsibility for the bombing, it was nevertheless attributed to the MEK. Ann K. Reed notes that Western observers believe the People's Mujahedin of Iran was "most likely to have been responsible for the bomb blasts of June 28 and August 30." However, Van England notes that "the explosions were set off by insiders - the first by an accomplice working in the offices of the IRP, the second by the guard in charge of security at Prime Minister Bahonar's headquarters." Mangol Bayat also expressed doubts that the MEK would be capable the attacks "since infiltration of the regime at the very high level would have been necessary." The Islamic Republic of Iran later claimed that the attack was carried out by MEK agent Masoud Keshmiri, secretary of Bahonar's office and of the Supreme National Security Council, who used a fake passport to escape Iran after the attack. More than twenty suspects were identified in the subsequent investigation, including Masoud Keshmiri, Ali Akbar Tehrani, Mohammad Kazem Peiro Razawi, Khosro Ghanbari Tehrani, Javad Ghadiri, Mohsen Sazgara, Taghi Mohammadi, and Habibollah Dadashi.
Perpetrator
The Islamic Republic of Iran identified Masoud Keshmiri as the perpetrator. An official in the Prosecutor General's office said that Keshmiri had concealed his anti-government activities so well that a corpse mistaken for his was buried on 31 August with full honors as a martyr of the Islamic revolution. Abdol Hossein Daftarian was stuck in the elevator after the explosion, where he suffocated to death. The MEK bought some time for Keshmiri by spreading the rumor that the man found in the elevator was actually him. Although the Iranian authorities arrested and executed numerous MEK agents, Keshmiri fled the country using a fake passport.
Aftermath
Following the deaths of Rajai and Bahonar, an interim presidential council was formed, as stipulated by Article 130 of the Iranian Constitution. The interim council consisted of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then Parliament's speaker, and Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabili, then president of the Supreme Court. The council announced five national days of mourning and nominated Interior Minister Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani to Parliament as the next prime minister. Parliament held an election on 2 October 1981 to elect Bahonar's successor; Kani won a parliamentary vote of confidence to become prime minister, receiving 178 votes in favor, 10 votes against, and 8 abstentions.
