Iranian terror plots send a message to opposition abroad

Under scrutiny. The conference room of the Zahra Centre, the headquarters of a Shia association in northern France, after it was raided by 200 policemen, on October 2. (AFP)
There was a time Iran systematically assassinated Iranian opposition members in Europe. Some of the more prominent assassinations of the 1980s and early 1990s were: Shahriar Shafiq, the shah’s nephew; General Gholam-Ali Oveissi; former Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar; regime critic Reza Mazlouman in France; Iranian Kurdish opposition leaders in Austria and Germany and Kazem Rajavi, representative of the People’s Mujahideen of Iran (MEK) to the United Nations in Switzerland.
The practice of assassinating opponents abroad ended in the 1990s when the regime in Tehran tried to gain respectability and international acceptance. There are signs, however, that Iran is turning the clock back to the bad old days.
The first ominous sign appeared in July when the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service confirmed it had expelled two Iranian Embassy staff members but declined to provide details. The Iranian side was not as closed-lipped. Mashregh, a news outlet close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, disclosed that Dutch authorities were investigating two murder cases, which they attributed to Iranian agents.
Ahmad Mola Abou Nahez, also known as Ahmad Nissi, founder of the separatist Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA), was killed November 9, 2017.  Mohammad-Reza Samadi Kolahi, also known as Ali Motamed, was shot dead in the Netherlands on December 15, 2015. Kolahi was a former MEK member and wanted by the Tehran regime for planting a bomb at the headquarters of the Islamic Republican Party in 1981, which killed 75 people, including Mohammad Beheshti, Supreme Court chief.
The second sign of revival of Tehran’s terror squads became public in July. On June 30, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which serves as a front for the MEK, had a gathering in Paris. It hosted several prominent guests such as former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, US President Donald Trump’s lawyer.
The French government accused “Iranian intelligence” of plotting to bomb the gathering. The alleged plotters, arrested in several European countries, included Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat based in Austria. He was arrested in Germany on the charge of handing a bomb to two Belgian nationals of Iranian origin, in Luxembourg. The Belgian nationals are Amir Sadouni and Nasimeh Noami, a married couple. When arrested, they allegedly were in possession of half a kilogram of explosives and a detonator.
Later, a certain Merhad A. was arrested in Paris on charges of being an accomplice. Iranian media have since released photos of Sadouni at MEK gatherings and claims the MEK staged the terrorist attack. The fake attack was supposedly meant to be an act of provocation and discredit the regime in Tehran.
A third possible plot was discovered by the Danish intelligence services in September. Police began a manhunt, which briefly paralysed Denmark after the authorities cut off the eastern island of Zealand and Copenhagen, from the rest of the country. Police said they were looking for a black Swedish-registered car with “possibly three people onboard” in connection with “serious criminality.” The vehicle was found but authorities have yet to report any arrests.
Several days later it became apparent that the Danish police expected the assassination or kidnapping by Iranian agents of an individual who goes by the pseudonym Yaqoub al-Tostari. He is the ASMLA spokesman and defended the September 22 terrorist attack against a military parade in Ahvaz.
All three incidents appear to send a uniform message to the Iranian opposition abroad: The regime is willing and capable of turning the clock back to the bad old days.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Security forces attack peaceful Isfahan teachers’ gathering, detain dozens

Image
Security forces attacked a peaceful teachers’ gathering today in the central city of Isfahan with tear gas and pepper spray. Reports on social media indicate that as many as 40 to 50 teachers were detained in the gathering, though the figures are still not exact.    From the very beginning of the gathering outside the city’s Education Department, security forces and riot police were dispatched to the area and shot tear gas into the peaceful teachers’ gathering. Heshmat Alavi @HeshmatAlavi  ·  Dec 27, 2018 Replying to @HeshmatAlavi Dec 27 - Isfahan, central # Iran State police fire tear gas & pepper spray into a rally of teachers protesting low wages, poor living conditions & skyrocketing prices. # IranProtests Heshmat Alavi @HeshmatAlavi Dec 27 - Isfahan, central # Iran State police heard threatening to fire more tear gas into the crowd of teachers holding a peaceful rally. Source says a large number of teachers were
Read more

The Iranian regime’s ties with Taliban

Image
The Iranian regime's consulate building in Afghanistan  Fazal Rahman Khadem, the director of terrorism for the Police Headquarters of Herat, Afghanistan, revealed that the Iranian regime’s consulate is behind the murder of his brother. Fazil Rahman Khadem stated, “All the serial targeted attacks in Herat took place on the directives of Mahmood Afkhami Rashidi, the Iranian high consul general in the province.” Over 134 persons were arrested in connection with the targeted murders. “Most of the detainees confessed that they targeted iconic personalities and high-ranking security officials in Herat by the directives of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s security agents,” he added. Some of the Herat Provincial Council members confirmed that neighboring countries interfere in Afghanistan’s domestic issues. They believe that there are specific political interests behind terrorist plots in the province. Recently, state-run Iranian media aired more news in
Read more

The Iranian regime, in a whirlpool of collapse

Image
The collapse of the legitimacy of the mullahs regime has already happened In a recent interview with the Mostaghel newspaper, Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of the infamous Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the founders of Islamic Republic, talked about Hassan Rouhani’s defeat and  the collapse of the Iranian regime . Hashemi’s statements were widely republished by media outlets affiliated with the so-called reformist faction of the Iranian regime, and pundits and personalities of this faction generally confirmed it. “The collapse of legitimacy has already happened, and only a physical collapse has not happened, and chances are high that this happens,” Hashemi said in her interview. “Mr. Rouhani talks as if he isn’t the president. Parts of these [matters] are in the jurisdiction of the government. He talks as if he is the opposition. You should be able to act! Who are you criticizing?” she said about the Iranian regime’s president’s lack of action and his comprehensive defea
Read more