Iranian Reportedly Claims Key Role in ’88 Pan Am Bombing

A man who said he coordinated most of Iran’s terror operations of the last decade claimed responsibility for two major attacks on the United States, the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 and the Khobar Towers bombing, “60 Minutes” reported Sunday.

The man, whom the CBS News program identified as Ahmad Behbahani, told a “60 Minutes” journalist that he proposed the 1988 Pan Am operation, enlisted the help of a radical Palestinian terrorist, then trained Libyan operatives to do the job.

The program said his motive was to avenge the U.S.’ mistaken shooting-down of an Iranian passenger jet.

Two Libyans are on trial in the Netherlands for the Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.

On the 1996 truck bombing of Khobar Towers, a barracks for U.S. airmen in Saudi Arabia, in which 19 Air Force personnel died, the man spoke of evidence that Iran masterminded the attack.

Roya Hakakian, an Iranian-born associate producer for “60 Minutes,” who met Behbahani inside a refugee camp in Turkey, said that “it was very clear . . . that he was the person who oversaw and coordinated these activities.” Because of tight Turkish security, the interview was not recorded, the program said.