TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s intelligence minister blamed Iranian Arab extremists yesterday for violent protests and a spate of deadly bombings and claimed the ringleaders were connected to foreign intelligence services.

Four bombs in the southwestern city of Ahvaz killed eight people Sunday, and two more people were killed in explosions later in Tehran.

Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi said the bombers were Iranians based outside the country.

“We have proof of a link between these people outside Iran and some intelligence services in the world,” Mr. Yunesi was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. He did not identify the leaders of the protests or the intelligence services and stopped short of directly linking foreign hands to the bombings.

He said the Tehran bombings were not related to those in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, bordering Iraq. “These explosions [in Tehran] were carried out by amateurs, without a clear goal. In the Khuzestan incidents … it was a well-defined operation with a clear goal. It was a professional operation,” he said.

On Sunday, an Iranian security official blamed the bombings – the deadliest in Iran in more than a decade – on supporters of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Deputy Provincial Governor Rahim Fazilatpour told the Associated Press yesterday that three little-known Arab separatist groups had claimed responsibility for the bombings in Ahvaz, near the border with Iraq, but said the government could not confirm the claim.

A local journalist in Ahvaz, Hadi Yunesi, said the alleged separatist groups made the claims just to get publicity.

The blasts struck government buildings and were followed within hours by two smaller explosions in central Tehran, killing a total of 10 people and injuring more than 100 just days before Iran’s presidential elections.

Iranians remained nervous yesterday, with rumors of more planted bombs spreading quickly across the vast capital.

Trains at a Tehran subway station were halted for 20 minutes after rumors spread about a bomb there. A search determined it was a hoax.

Ahvaz was the site of two days of violent protests in April after reports circulated of an alleged plan to decrease the proportion of Arabs in the area. A letter allegedly signed by a former vice president, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, ordered the relocation of non-Arabs to Ahvaz to make them the majority population. Mr. Abtahi denied writing the letter.

Arabs make up about 3% of Iran’s population of 69 million; Persians account for 51%.

In April, officials confirmed one death in the protests, but opposition groups said more than 20 demonstrators had been killed. About 250 were arrested.

The intelligence minister said the bombings in Ahvaz were committed by radicals who failed to capitalize on April’s protests. “These people were defeated several weeks ago….On the verge of presidential elections, they want to take revenge,” the Islamic Republic News Agency quoted him as saying.

Mr. Yunesi, the journalist – no relation to the intelligence minister – said a list of names was circulated in Ahvaz recently, identifying people who cooperated with security officials in ending the April protests, including radio and television officials. The anonymous letter had threatened to kill those named in the list.

On Sunday, state-run television quoted a spokesman from the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Agha Mohammadi, as saying the perpetrators of the Ahvaz bombings had infiltrated into Iran from Basra in southern Iraq.

Some Sunni leaders in Iraq have accused Shiite Iran of meddling in Iraqi affairs by backing Shiite Muslim clergy and politicians in a bid to sway Iraq’s politics toward an Islamic establishment.

Iran denies the allegations, but some speculate that extremists loyal to Saddam could be trying to create insecurity ahead of Friday’s presidential election.