October 12, 2018
UANI
Report Reveals Iran's Malign Intelligence Activities
(New York, NY)
-- In July, European authorities intercepted two Iranian
suspects in Belgium carrying 500 grams of explosives who were
planning to attack a gathering of an Iranian dissident organization
in Paris. The foiled plot, for which an Iranian intelligence officer
masquerading as a diplomat and three others have been charged by
Belgian authorities, bore the hallmarks of numerous past Iranian
attacks, including the use of an Iranian embassy for planning and
coordination.
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), in its report, Iran's
Malign Intelligence Activities, details how
Iran's intelligence apparatus, coupled with terror proxies like
Hezbollah, has planned and executed assassinations and bombing
attacks of perceived opponents of the theocratic regime in Iran and
around the world. In the past year, the frequency of Iranian directed
actions has markedly increased, signifying the resumption of an
extrajudicial assassination campaign that has been dormant since the
1980s and 1990s, when Iran killed more than 150 regime opponents in
19 different countries.
Iran's willingness to murder its critics extends to the
United States as well. Thursday, October 11 marked the seven-year
anniversary of the attempted assassination of Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi
Arabia's then ambassador to the United States and current foreign
minister, in Washington, D.C.
In August 2018, the United States arrested two Iranian
nationals allegedly acting on behalf of the Iranian government who
were conducting surveillance on an Iranian dissident organization and
potential Jewish targets in New York and Chicago. The arrest
affidavit noted that the suspects had received intelligence training,
implying the involvement of Iran's intelligence services.
The resumption of terrorist plots against opposition
figures in Europe and the United States is a worrying trend that
signals Tehran increasingly feels it has nothing to lose for
murdering its opponents, even on European and American soil. At the
same moment that Iran is insisting that the European Union devise
ways to block U.S. sanctions designed to deter Iran's aggression,
Iran has chosen to accelerate its lawless conduct against its
perceived opponents.
Iran's malign intelligence activities are an important
and under-reported component of the revolutionary regime's
destabilizing conduct around the world. UANI's new report offers a
wake-up call to Europe about the seriousness of the Iranian threat.
European governments' advocacy for continued economic engagement with
Iran reinforces Tehran's belief that it can continue to target regime
opponents abroad with impunity. European governments should instead
discourage further Iranian trade and investment and other measures
designed to provide financial support to Iran.
To read the UANI report: Iran's Malign Intelligence
Activities, please click here.
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