Questions Raised About Rationale for Iran’s Terrorism Tactics in Europe

Although European authorities have long been alert to potential terrorist activities by (non-state) jihadi groups, mostly Sunnis, they may soon be forced to take more attention to state-sponsored terrorist activities by Iran’s ruling theocratic regime.

The spotlight will soon be on a trial in Belgium of an Iranian diplomat and three other Iranians accused of planning and organizing a bomb attack on a rally near Paris in June 2018.

The rally had been organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s (NCRI) an umbrella grouping of opposition organizations led by Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. The major opposition organization is the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran) and it was this organization that was specifically targeted by the planned bomb attack.

The Iranian diplomat was a man called Assadollah Assadi, who was the third secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Vienna. Two of the other accomplices were a Belgian-Iranian couple and there was one other whose identity is yet to be revealed.

The details so far revealed allege that Assadi brought 500g of TATP explosive into Vienna secured in his diplomatic bag and had arranged to provide this to the three others who were the ones who were going to actually plant the explosives and detonate them.

Little did the four accused know that European authorities already had suspicions of the people involved and had been watching them for some time.

Whatever the real story, Belgian authorities arrested the couple, together with the explosives they were carrying, while Assadi was arrested in Germany soon after.

There is enough evidence to suggest that the whole affair had been planned and organized in Tehran by elements of the Iranian regime, with full authorization from the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

Questions Raised About Rationale for Iran’s Terrorism Tactics in Europe