by Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Revolutionary Guards' elite black-ops arm, the Quds Force, reportedly established a network of cells in Europe with aim of assassinating exiled Iranian dissidents and moderate Arab leaders
Iran has set up
terrorist and intelligence infrastructure across Europe with aim of
assassinating exiled Iranian dissidents and moderate Arab leaders,
particularly those whose countries rival Iran in the Persian Gulf,
intelligence experts told Israel Hayom Tuesday.
According to both Israeli and foreign
intelligence experts, the vast Iranian infrastructure was set up to
serve the Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite black-ops arm, the Quds
Force.
One foreign intelligence official said that
a prominent Arab leader had recently canceled a visit to Europe
following solid information suggesting that an Iranian terrorist cell
was planning to assassinate him.
Belgian authorities announced Monday that
they have exposed extensive infrastructure deployed by the Quds Force
and Iranian intelligence. Three people were arrested, including an
Iranian diplomat, on suspicion of plotting to bomb a meeting of an
exiled Iranian opposition group in France.
The IntelliTimes intelligence blog said Tuesday that former Prime Minister Ehud Barak was also in Paris during that time.
Shin Bet security agency Director Nadav Argaman met with Barak last week to discuss what was described as "urgent" concerns for his safety, over an alleged Iranian plot to attack Barak during one of his visits abroad.
The blog also reported that an Israeli
diplomatic vehicle was recently stolen in one of Europe's capitals,
only to be abandoned in its Muslim quarter, suggesting that the thieves
may have planned to use it to stage a terrorist attack against the
Israeli mission in that city.
The blog further claimed that the Iranian
terrorist infrastructure was headed by Asadullah Asadi, stationed as
an attaché at the Iranian Embassy in Vienna. Belgium was selected to be
the logistical base of operations for Iranian terrorist cells, which
comprised Iranians who had migrated to Brussels, Antwerp and Mons.
Belgian intelligent officials said Asadi
was arrested on German soil as he made his way from Vienna to Brussels
as part of the final preparations for the attacks. Raids in the homes
of the other suspects yielded various weapons.
U.S. mulls designating IRGC a terrorist group
CNN reported Tuesday that the Trump
administration was weighing whether to designate the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group as part of its efforts to
pressure Tehran.
The designation decision, formally under
the State Department's purview, is particularly important given the
White House's increasingly aggressive strategy toward Iran.
Officials have been debating it for several months and have yet to reach a consensus.
While some warn a designation could pose
risks to U.S. personnel and overseas assets, it would allow the White
House to freeze IRGC assets, impose travel bans and levy criminal
penalties on top of pre-existing economic sanctions imposed by
President Donald Trump.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is said to be in favor of the designation.
"There's lots of things that are being
discussed, things that will prove, we believe, very effective at the
end goal-which is, at the end of the day, what matters, right?" Pompeo
told CNN in a recent interview. "The end goal is to convince the
Islamic Republic of Iran to be a normal country."
Still, National Intelligence Director Dan
Coats has cautioned the administration that designating a state's
military as a terror group, particularly one with the reach of the
IRGC, would be unprecedented and could expose U.S. diplomatic and
military officials to additional hazards.
Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for the
Iranian Mission to the United Nations, told CNN that the possible
terrorist designation was in keeping with an American tendency to use
terrorism for political objectives.
"The U.S. has a long history of
politicizing the term 'terrorism' for its own political ends, which
undermines others fighting terrorism," Miryousefi said. "To associate
the term with the IRGC is categorically preposterous, especially
considering their central role in fighting terrorism in the Middle
East, including ISIS and al-Qaida."
Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu attended an event marking the United States'
Independence Day. The event was hosted by U.S. Ambassador to
Israel David Friedman.
He criticized European leaders for meeting
with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani while his country was plotting
against the continent.
"President Trump decided to leave this bad
deal and he did the greatest thing for the security of the world
and for the security of Israel. Now, you should know that this is not
yet universally accepted. And I can tell you that this week there's
going to be a meeting and the meeting is going to be in Europe.
"There is a meeting this week by the P4
[Germany, France, Britain and China] without the United States. They
are going to discuss how to go around the decision that President
Trump and the United Stated made to leave this bad deal, which is
funding Iran's terrorism and its aggression with billions of
dollars," he said.
"There is in the same week something
extraordinary. The P4 invited Iran's President Rouhani to attend
that meeting. But at the same time, in recent days, this same regime
dispatched a terrorist cell to carry out a major terrorist attack in
France.
"The commander of this terrorist cell was
an Iranian diplomat in Austria. Fortunately, the plot was exposed.
The cell's Iranian members were arrested in France, Belgium and
Germany. France and Germany are part of the P4. At the time of their
capture, the cell members had explosives, detonators and more.
European authorities are now completing their investigation and are
expected to charge the Iranian agents and cell members behind the
plot.
"This Iranian terror plot was planned on
the soil of Europe on the same week that the European leaders are
supposed to meet the President of Iran about circumventing the
sanctions on Iran. Here's my message to the European leaders: Stop
funding the very regime that is sponsoring terrorism against you and
against so many others. Stop appeasing Iran," Netanyahu said.
Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Source:http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/07/04/iran-set-up-terrorist-infrastructure-in-europe-%e2%80%8eexperts-say-%e2%80%8e/
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