Iran was accused of increasing its hostile operations in the West by the US, several NATO allies and Austria.
The Islamist regime was said to use its intelligence services in a wide array of criminal activities in Europe and the US.
“We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty”, a joint statement issued by the countries on July 31 read.
“These services are increasingly collaborating with international criminal organizations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials in Europe and North America. This is unacceptable.
“We consider these types of attacks, regardless of the target, as violations of our sovereignty. We are committed to working together to prevent these actions from happening and we call on the Iranian authorities to immediately put an end to such illegal activities in our respective territories.”
The statement was signed by the US, the UK, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
Austria is the only country of the group not in NATO but hosts the UN nuclear watchdog headquarters.
Full interview with former MEP @VidalQuadras on Iran is now online 👏🏽
Don´t miss the full interview 👉🏽 https://t.co/vtuoEiqNUc #interview #iran pic.twitter.com/R5YGLOhKts
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 26, 2024
In the past few years, Iran has been accused of several attacks on European soil.
It was suspected of being behind the assassination attempt against Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca, a former Spanish politician, who was shot in the face in November 2023.
Iran allegedly also collaborates with migrant drugs gangs in Sweden, Denmark and Germany to recruit people and carry out attacks against western and Israeli targets.
Last June, the British House of Commons Intelligence Committee reported 15 attempted murders and kidnappings targeting British citizens and residents allegedly by Iran between January 2022 and August 2023.
In early July, an Iranian spy who was allegedly planning attacks on Jewish people in Germany was arrested after a lengthy multi-national intelligence operation.
The UK Committee said: “Iran poses a wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat to the UK.”
The Middle East country also supported the Kremlin’s war effort against Ukraine, most notably by providing Russia with Shahed drones, often used against Ukrainian infrastructure.
Western tourists visiting Iran are often baselessly accused of espionage and detained by the regime, who use them as bargaining chips to extract political or economic concessions.
EU leaders have come under fire for offering condolences after Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash. https://t.co/2O0fYscuJM
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 21, 2024
