The US and more than 10 allies, including the UK, France, and Germany, issued a joint statement on 31/7 condemning Iran. "We collectively oppose Iran’s intelligence plots to kill, kidnap, and harass individuals across Europe and North America, which violate our sovereignty," the statement said. It added, "Iran’s intelligence services are increasingly working with transnational criminal organizations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and former and current government officials in Europe and North America. This is unacceptable."
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei dismissed the accusations as "baseless" and said they were meant to distract from what he called the "genocide" occurring in the Gaza Strip.
He also described the accusations as part of an "anti-Iran" campaign to pressure Tehran.
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Esmaeil Baqaei in a photo released on 31/7. Photo: IRNA |
Esmaeil Baqaei in a photo released on 31/7. Photo: IRNA
The joint statement represents one of the strongest collective rebukes of Iranian intelligence to date.
Earlier last month, a UK parliamentary committee accused Iran of being behind at least 15 assassination or kidnapping plots in the UK since 2022.
Dutch intelligence also believes Iran plotted to assassinate an Iranian citizen living in the Netherlands in 2024. The plot was foiled when police intervened and arrested two suspects. One of the suspects is also suspected of involvement in the attempted assassination of Spanish right-wing politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a supporter of the Iranian opposition, who was shot in Madrid in 2024.
In an indictment unsealed in 2023, the US Justice Department accused three members of a European criminal gang of participating in a Tehran-backed plot to assassinate an Iranian-American journalist and dissident.
