{"id":233978,"date":"2021-01-27T12:29:49","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T17:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=233978"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:17:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:17:35","slug":"tehrans-response-to-belgian-terror-case-reinforces-calls-for-broader-accountability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/blog\/op-ed\/tehrans-response-to-belgian-terror-case-reinforces-calls-for-broader-accountability\/","title":{"rendered":"Tehran\u2019s Response To Belgian Terror Case Reinforces Calls for Broader Accountability"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Iran-EU-terrorist-alert-05122020\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-230601\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Iran-EU-terrorist-alert-05122020.jpg\" alt=\"Iran-EU-terrorist-alert-05122020\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Iran-EU-terrorist-alert-05122020.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Iran-EU-terrorist-alert-05122020-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Iran-EU-terrorist-alert-05122020-768x480.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Iran-EU-terrorist-alert-05122020-696x435.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>By Alejo Vidal Quadras<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">On Sunday, the spokesperson for Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry finally spoke publicly about the terrorism case involving Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, for whom a verdict is due next week. The remarks amounted to a predictable denial of responsibility, and they should serve to further underscore the need for an assertive shift in Western policies, with the aim of holding the entire regime accountable for its terrorist activity in the wake of Assadi\u2019s conviction.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/ncri-statements\/iranian-diplomat-and-three-accomplices-on-trial-for-planned-bombing-of-a-massive-rally-in-paris\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Assadollah Assadi<\/a>, the former third counselor at the Iranian embassy in Vienna is accused of directing three other operatives in an attempt to set off explosives at the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/free-iran-gathering-paris-2018\/\" rel=\"noopener\">annual gathering<\/a> of Iranian expatriate activists. The plot in question was disrupted through the cooperation of multiple European authorities in 2018, the last year the event took place in a Paris suburb before moving the following year to the Albanian compound belonging to the dissident group known as the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/english.mojahedin.org\/i\/primer-the-history-the-peoples-mojahedin-organization-iran\" rel=\"noopener\">PMOI-MEK<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Among the latest revelations from the trial is the fact that Nasimeh Na\u2019ami and Amir Saadouni, the Iranian-Belgian couple who received the bomb directly from Assadi, were specifically instructed to place it as close as possible to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.maryam-rajavi.com\/en\/biography\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryam Rajavi<\/a>, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which organized the June 2018 event. Had they been successful in this mission, there is little doubt that the explosion would have also killed or wounded a significant number of the Western political dignitaries who were attending the event and sitting near the Resistance leader.<\/p>\n<div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" title=\"Free Iran 2018 Gathering - 30 June 2018 - Villepinte, Paris\" style=\"width:853px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_KTIcb7Jr364\" itemprop=\"video\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"><div><meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FKTIcb7Jr364%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"embedURL\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KTIcb7Jr364\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT31M22S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2018-07-23T21:34:09Z\" \/><\/div><div id=\"lyte_KTIcb7Jr364\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FKTIcb7Jr364%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\" itemprop=\"name\">Free Iran 2018 Gathering - 30 June 2018 - Villepinte, Paris<\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/KTIcb7Jr364\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FKTIcb7Jr364%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"Free Iran 2018 Gathering - 30 June 2018 - Villepinte, Paris\" width=\"853\" height=\"460\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"Free Iran 2018 Gathering - 30 June 2018 - Villepinte, Paris\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:853px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Witness affidavits that were submitted as part of the trial emphasize that the bomb was powerful enough to have killed many attendees at the Free Iran gathering and that an ensuing stampede of tens of thousands of people might have raised that death toll even further. It should not be necessary to point to the potential impact of the plot in order to rebut the recent statement from Saied Khatibzadeh, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson. But it very clearly underlines the absurdity of his claim that Assadi was somehow the victim of a \u201ccomplicated trap set up using the MEK.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">It wasn\u2019t immediately clear what Khatibzadeh meant by this, or whom exactly he was accusing of entrapping the Iranian diplomat. But at one time, the Iranian regime went so far as to take the position that the MEK had staged the incident as a false flag operation. Of course, this position became extremely difficult to maintain as details emerged of the case against Assadi. Tehran could not reasonably expect anyone to believe either that the MEK was willing to incur mass casualties among its own ranks or that it had set a plot into motion while specifically counting on European agencies to prevent it from reaching its conclusion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Neither could the regime credibly counter descriptions of its own diplomat\u2019s involvement in planning and directing the plot. While the regime may have been prepared to throw lower-ranking operatives under the bus, it has continually demonstrated an unwillingness to do the same with Assadi, the alleged mastermind. It demonstrated this again on Sunday through Khatibzadeh, who continued to promote the untenable argument that diplomatic status makes Assadi\u2019s arrest categorically unlawful, regardless of the accusations against him.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/stats.sender.net\/forms\/dGYVLa\/view\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-219239 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1.png\" alt=\"Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1\" width=\"250\" height=\"83\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">This assertion is just one of the ways in which Iranian officials, a number of whom have visited Assadi in jail since his arrest, have sought to facilitate his escape from justice. The argument is ridiculous on its face because Assadi was arrested in Germany while traveling outside the boundaries of his diplomatic mission. But even if this had not been the case, the seriousness of his crime and the volume of evidence against him would have allowed for him to be arrested under the laws of either Austria or Belgium. There is no established principle of diplomatic immunity that allows it to extend throughout the European Union or to apply even in cases where a diplomat poses a clear and present danger to national security.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Tehran\u2019s insistence to the contrary is increasingly desperate. There is no indication that it has affected anyone who has the power to intercede in the case, and there is every reason to believe that Assadi\u2019s conviction is imminent. Prosecutors have requested the maximum sentence of 20 years for the terrorist-diplomat and slightly lesser sentences for the would-be bombers and a fourth accomplice. But those same prosecutors have also seemingly contributed to the argument that these convictions should only be the start of a broader European response to the Iranian terror threat.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Throughout the trial, a major point of interest has been the relationship between Assadi\u2019s team and the political leadership of the Iranian regime. Prosecutors have said in no uncertain terms that that team was not acting as a collection of rogue agents, but had received instructions directly from Tehran. Assadi is said to have been at the head of an expansive network of potential terrorist assets, spanning at least 11 European countries. And the NCRI, being both the target of the 2018 plot and a reliable source of intelligence about Iranian affairs, concluded that the regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, and Foreign Minister <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-world\/26715-a-look-at-the-record-of-iran-regime-foreign-minister-javad-zarif\" rel=\"noopener\">Mohammad Javad Zarif<\/a>, were directly involved in calling for an attack on the Free Iran rally.<\/p>\n<div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" title=\"Iran&amp;#039;s diplomat &amp;amp; the largest terror plot in Europe. What was Assadollah Assadi&amp;#039;s role\" style=\"width:853px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_eARv0qQMzWU\" itemprop=\"video\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"><div><meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FeARv0qQMzWU%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"embedURL\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eARv0qQMzWU\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT16M1S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2020-11-29T15:20:17Z\" \/><\/div><div id=\"lyte_eARv0qQMzWU\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FeARv0qQMzWU%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\" itemprop=\"name\">Iran&#039;s diplomat &amp; the largest terror plot in Europe. What was Assadollah Assadi&#039;s role<\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/eARv0qQMzWU\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FeARv0qQMzWU%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"Iran&amp;#039;s diplomat &amp;amp; the largest terror plot in Europe. What was Assadollah Assadi&amp;#039;s role\" width=\"853\" height=\"460\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"November 2020\u2014On July 1, 2018, for the first time in Europe, an Iranian diplomat was arrested while committing an act of terrorism in Germany. The bomb plot intended to target an annual Iranian opposition rally held in Villepinte, north of Paris, where over 100,000 Iranian dissidents gathered each year. The decision to green-light this terror attack, which could have been one of the largest terrorist attacks in Europe\u2019s history, traces back to the most senior officials of Iran\u2019s regime, according to international news media. On January 9, 2018, Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the opposition People&#039;s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) were behind Iran&#039;s Dec. 2017-Jan. 2018 protests. From this day forward the regime\u2019s launched plans to carry its largest-ever terror plot on European soil, with the signatures of Khamenei, Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi. The target was the annual Iranian opposition gathering near Paris where over 100,000 people, along with hundreds of political dignitaries, take part. NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi is the keynote speaker at these events. This conference is an event that Zarif describes as a very hostile measure. Senior Iranian regime officials allocated all their assets for this terrorist plot, assigned to their Vienna-based diplomat by the name of Assadollah Assadi. Assadi is a career Intelligence Ministry agent and an expert in explosives. Following a year of preparations, on June 20, 2018, exactly ten days prior to the NCRI\u2019s 2018 gathering in Villepinte near Paris, Assadi was summoned to Tehran and on June 22 he personally transferred the explosive device in his luggage on an Austrian Airbus passenger plane, flight number OS872, to Vienna. The bomb contained 500 grams of TATP explosives with a remote control detonation mechanism. On June 28, Assadi traveled to Luxembourg where he delivered the bomb to two terrorist agents, Nasimeh Na&#039;ami and Amir Saadouni, who was missioned to take the package to the gathering site. Assadi was in close contact with these two agents for years and regularly met with them in various European countries while sending them to Iran for training whenever necessary. The two terrorist agents, while transferring the bomb in their vehicle to Paris and the gathering site, were arrested prior to noon on June 29 in Belgium. On the afternoon of the same day, Mehrdad Arefani, a third terrorist, was arrested at the gathering site in Villepinte, just north of Paris. Assadi himself was arrested on the afternoon of the next day, The truth is that Asadollah Assadi is a senior ranking MOIS member working under the cover of a diplomat. Both of his posts as an intelligence official and diplomat indicate that he is part of a military\/administrative chain of command, making both the MOIS and Foreign Ministry responsible for his measures. This hierarchy begins with his two superiors in both the MOIS and Foreign Ministry and linked to both ministers directly. These two ministers are under the authority of the regime\u2019s President. The mullahs\u2019 leader is also the highest official responsible in this regime. Furthermore, the MOIS is specifically and directly under the supervision of Khamenei himself and the foreign minister also reports directly to him. This indicates very well that the appeasement policy, alongside neglecting the regime\u2019s terrorist crimes and espionage, have resulted in the mullahs taking on such unprecedented crimes despite the high risks. Its diplomat terrorists and senior officials count on appeasement on one hand and taking advantage of nuclear talks with the Europeans on the other, providing the regime with a sense of immunity. NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi said the following during an online conference on October 22 regarding the case of Assadollah Assadi: 1. European countries must set aside all political considerations in this case. The regime\u2019s leaders must be prosecuted and they must face justice. This is a necessary and a preventive measure against terrorism under the name of Islam with the clerical regime as its exporter and central banker. 2. Khamenei and Rouhani took a great risk by sending a diplomat to carry out the bombing and slaughter. The reason is that they are extremely vulnerable in the face of the people\u2019s uprisings, the spread of the Resistance\u2019s influence, and the overthrow of their regime. 3. The policy of appeasement has greatly emboldened the regime over the past 40 years. To the extent that their diplomat, who is arrested, makes threats of more terrorist operations if convicted, even from inside prison. https:\/\/www.maryam-rajavi.com\/en\/item\/maryam-rajavi-eu-terrorism-islam-eu-obligations-brussels\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:853px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Those officials supposedly represent two distinct factions within the Iranian regime. But both seemed to develop an equivalent appetite for a direct assault on the democratic opposition after the MEK was determined to be the main driving force behind a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/anniversary-of-2018-iran-protests-and-international-communitys-obligations\/\" rel=\"noopener\">nationwide uprising<\/a> at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. The June 2018 terror plot was as much a sign of anxiety about this as it was an example of the longstanding threat that the Iranian regime poses to Western lives, interests, and property.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">This goes to show that demands for broader accountability from the Iranian regime are both morally imperative and pragmatic. After the terror plot failed to disrupt foreign centers of support for the Iranian Resistance, anti-government protests became a regular occurrence throughout the rest of 2018. This in turn set the stage for an even larger <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-november-2019-uprising-and-its-amplifications\/\" rel=\"noopener\">nationwide uprising<\/a> in November 2019, which encompassed nearly 200 cities and towns before being suppressed by one of the regime\u2019s worst domestic mass killings in years.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Even this failed to bring the anti-government protest movement to heel, and the country underwent yet another series of demonstrations across multiple provinces in January 2020, just ahead of the coronavirus outbreak. Analysts anticipate that Iran could become the site of renewed social and political instability in the wake of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">That outcome is all the more likely if foreign bases of operations for the Iranian regime seem secure. But such security depends upon serious confrontation of the Iranian terror threat by local authorities. Post facto prosecutions are not enough. Western powers must anticipate the Iranian terror threat and recognize that it will continue its terrorist activities on their soil unless sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and multinational investigations make clear in advance that there will be consequences for doing so. Shutting down Iran\u2019s embassies in European countries and expelling its agents would be a serious step to demonstrate that Europe is serious about the activities of a state sponsor of terrorism.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_218196\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-218196\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Dr.-Alejo-Vidal-Quadras.jpg\" class=\"td-modal-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Dr.-Alejo-Vidal-Quadras\" class=\"wp-image-218196 td-animation-stack-type1-2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Dr.-Alejo-Vidal-Quadras.jpg\" alt=\"Dr.-Alejo-Vidal-Quadras\" width=\"153\" height=\"153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Dr.-Alejo-Vidal-Quadras.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Dr.-Alejo-Vidal-Quadras-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Dr.-Alejo-Vidal-Quadras-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 153px) 100vw, 153px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-218196\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a professor of atomic and nuclear physics, was vice-president of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014. He is President of the\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/isjcommittee.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alejo Vidal Quadras On Sunday, the spokesperson for Iran&rsquo;s Foreign Ministry finally spoke publicly about the terrorism case involving Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, for whom a verdict is due [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":230601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[188],"tags":[129,191,273,287],"class_list":{"0":"post-233978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-op-ed","8":"tag-iran","9":"tag-alejo-vidal-quadras","10":"tag-assadollah-assadi","11":"tag-iran-terrorism"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tehran\u2019s Response To Belgian Terror Case Reinforces Calls for Broader Accountability - 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