EU becomes center of Iran’s terrorist operations
On Monday, July 2, 2018, Belgian Federal Intelligence and Security Agency and Federal Prosecutor’s Office reported that they had thwarted a major terrorist plot of the Iranian regime at the heart of Europe by arresting a husband and wife near Brussels.
The arrested couple are Belgian nationals of Iranian descent and wanted to commit a bomb attack in Villepinte (France) on Saturda,y June 30, 2018, at a conference held there by the Iranian opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
According to the Belgian Public Prosecutor’s office, Assadollah Assadi, a diplomat, who served as the number third-ranking diplomat in Iran’s embassy in Vienna and a member of President Rouhani’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), was arrested in Germany as the “contact person” of the couple.
However, Germany’s federal prosecutor on Wednesday, July 12, charged Assadi for conspiracy to commit murder.
Historically, the theocracy has pursued a policy of assassinating dissidents in Europe. Since the 1979 revolution, there are at least 10 known Iran-sponsored terrorist attacks, some of which were recently listed by the US State Department.
In 1997, a German court issued an international arrest warrant for Iranian intelligence minister for the assassination of Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Mykonos Greek restaurant in Berlin in 1992.
The Iranian regime has assassinated NCRI members in Europe. Kazem Rajavi, the representative of the NCRI, was gunned down by the MOIS agents on April 24, 1990, as he was driving to his home in Coppet, a village near Geneva.
If the theocracy does not face serious punishments, the Western citizens should expect more fatal terrorist operation in the near future as the regime is collapsing inside Iran.
If the theocracy does not face serious punishments, the Western citizens should expect more fatal terrorist operation in the near future as the regime is collapsing inside Iran.
Two of the hitmen were later discovered in France and arrested by French police. But despite a warrant for their arrest by the Swiss authorities, the French government put them on a direct flight to Tehran “for national reasons”. The decision to allow Tehran’s terrorist agents to escape prosecution drew international condemnation, including from the United States.
New strategy
But after six months of constant anti-regime protests in Iran, the MOIS has implemented a new strategy to eliminate the opposition that the regime officials blame for organizing the nationwide uprising. On March 22, 2018, two Iranians were arrested in Tirana, Albania, on the charge of plotting terrorist attack against thousands of Iranian opposition members.
The MOIS uses Iran’s embassies in the EU countries as a center for planning, organizing and carrying out its terrorist operations. This was highlighted again earlier this week by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who went on to warn Tehran that its actions have “a real high cost.”
After destabilizing the Middle East, it seems that the Iranian regime now has set its target on EU using the same means, terrorism. As the EU leaders are using every diplomatic and political resource to preserve the nuclear deal in order to safeguard their economic interests, the MOIS takes advantage of the fruitless talks to target EU citizens and Iranian dissidents in Europe.
However, some EU countries appear to take the threat seriously. The Netherlands rightfully expelled two Iranian embassy staffers as persona non grata in June. The authorities did not disclose the reason but the Dutch intelligence service deem it serious enough to take the decision to expel them.
Had the terrorist plot in Paris on June 30 been successful, many innocent people and members of parliament from around the world who attended the gathering would have been killed.
Attacks by Tehran on Europe
When the ISIS terrorist operations in Europe are condemned as unacceptable and ruthless, one should ask why the EU leaders are willing to overlook similar vicious terrorist attacks by Tehran on European territory.
Their appeasing approach threatens the Union’s security and should be reversed by bringing the arrested Iranian diplomat in Germany to justice and taking steps to close Iran’s embassies in the EU member-states, which the regime uses as command center for organizing terrorist operations in the EU.
If the theocracy does not face serious punishments, the Western citizens should expect more fatal terrorist operation in the near future as the regime is collapsing inside Iran.
Freelance journalist Hamid Bahrami has served as political prisoner in Iran. He is a human rights and political activist living in Glasgow, Scotland. His works covers Iran’s destructive actions in the Middle East and social crackdown in Iran. He tweets at @HaBahrami & blogs at analyzecom.
Originally published in the english.alarabiya
