There is nothing the Iranian regime will not shrink from when it tries to keep its iron grip on power. It would even risk killing thousands of innocents on Western soil if it could kill an opposition leader. I know because I was one of them.
A Belgian court on Thursday convicted an Iranian official of a plot to bomb a dissident rally outside Paris in June 2018. Assadollah Assadi was sentenced to a maximum sentence of 20 years for attempted terrorist murder and for working with a terrorist group.
He was an intelligence agent for the regime’s internal security department 312, which the European Union classifies as a terrorist organization, but he worked undercover as a diplomat in the Iranian embassy in Vienna. Three accomplices received sentences from 15 to 18 years. Belgium found that the scheme had been planned and approved by Tehran.
Let that sink in: Iran attempted a terrorist attack on European soil, targeting an event featuring high-profile former officials from the United States, Canada and Europe, including former Governor Bill Richardson, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, former head of the U.S. Army Staff General George Casey, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former Foreign Ministers of France and Italy. How can President Biden and European leaders ever want to tackle and normalize such a murderous regime?
I remember waking up nearly three years ago to the news that I could have been murdered the day before. My head hurt a little as I dizzy reached for my phone. I had been in deep discussions with Iranian-Americans and -Canadians in the hotel lounge until the small hours.
It was my second time reporting on the annual event organized by the exiled pro-democracy group Iran’s National Council of Resistance. The year before, I had spent hours interviewing three young people who had been imprisoned and tortured under so-called moderate President Hassan Rouhani. Many in attendance had similar stories about the persecution they or their loved ones endured before fleeing the Islamic Republic. Some shared their stories with me about bottles of wine as I distracted a couple’s adorable kids by installing a popular game on my phone.
Those children could be part of the future of a free Iran: their parents plan to return if the regime falls and help their countrymen rebuild. But they could have been murdered, along with tens of thousands of others, had the Belgian and German security forces not thwarted Iran’s plot at the last minute.
Assadi brought a pound of explosives and a detonator on a commercial flight from Iran to Vienna – he was actually carrying them in a diplomatic bag! – then drove to Luxembourg to hand them over to an Iranian couple who had been granted political asylum in Belgium.
Police arrested the couple while driving their Mercedes to Paris on the day of the event. Another accomplice was arrested and Assadi was arrested in Germany – where authorities said his diplomatic immunity against Austria did not apply.
The plot was targeted by NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi; Iran blames its opposition group for anti-regime protests that have shocked the murderous mullahs.
Assadi appears to run Tehran’s European spy network: a notebook contained 289 places in 11 European countries where he contacted alleged agents. While in prison, he was visited by Reza Lotfi, a liaison between the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the intelligence service.
Secretary of State Javad Zarif first claimed that the foiled attack was a “false flag” operation – but it appears he was part of the plot. “The plan to attack was devised on behalf of Iran and under his leadership,” Jaak Raes, head of the Belgian State Security Service, told prosecutors. “It was not Assadi’s personal initiative.”
The terrorist showed no remorse and refused to testify at his trial, claiming diplomatic immunity – but he threatened to Belgian authorities that if found guilty, unidentified groups could retaliate. Zarif has not disputed the evidence either; his ministry simply claims that diplomatic immunity invalidates the conviction.
You may remember Zarif’s face from photos of him standing smiling next to John Kerry, who as secretary of state helped negotiate the nuclear deal – and who met Zarif out of office in an attempt to overcome President Donald Trump’s Iran policy. to undermine.
Biden’s government wants to meet this murderous man again in an attempt to reseal the deal. Europe longs for this to happen. But the Paris plot proves that this regime is not a good faith actor. And it is capable of much death and destruction, even without a nuclear weapon.
Kelly Jane Torrance serves on the editorial board of The Post.
Twitter: @KJTorrance