Did Someone Try To Assassinate Ahmadinejad?

From The Muqata:

According to breaking news reports, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad narrowly survived an assassination attempt a couple of hours ago. Pro-government Iranian website khabaronline.ir claims that one person was arrested at the scene, but reliable independent reports indicate that the actual assailant escaped.

The Arab News is carrying the same AP article, noting that:

Other media reported an explosion in the area but gave conflicting accounts about the cause. Some said it was a firecracker.

The website, khabaronline.ir, said the grenade detonated near Ahmadinejad's convoy as he was on his way to address a crowd in the western Iranian town of Hamedan but did not harm him.

Now it looks like the report of a firecracker is the correct one:

Iran denied reports of a grenade exploding near the convoy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to a western Iranian city Wednesday.

The semi-official Fars News Agency and several other outlets had reported the incident, in which Ahmadinejad was unhurt.

But the media department at Iran's presidential office denied there was an attack. Media advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr told CNN that the grenade was a toy firecracker and accused international journalists of blowing the story out of proportion.

"This was someone playing with a firecracker, the kind children play with, the kind you use when you want to celebrate," Javanfekr said. "This was a toy and there were no injuries but the western media took and made it bigger than it is."

Yeah, don't you just hate it when the western media gets it wrong?
Any, isn't khabaronline.ir that spread the assassination rumor an Iranian news outlet?

Technorati Tag: Iran and Ahmadinejad.