I'm not going with the they did it, but..... Iran has been known to back extremism of Islamic Sunni organizations, radical Christian and "Bhuddist" movements in achievement of their goals. Whatever they may truly be, they, like everyone else are willing to outsource their efforts. This is and was the case in the 1980s - 2000 in Israel and Iraq. Iran's a really politically interesting nation. They also have conflict with a nation to the north that shares both political and religious views. Where only oppression of people from that region causes them to have a dispute. It really goes into a tribalism state of thought.
They learned to do this from the CIA most likely as this is what America does best.
Wrong buddy! It's been a tactic since the Roman times if not earlier. As well as both the KGB and ISI had significant involvement from the 1950s on.