{"id":234792,"date":"2021-02-10T07:56:33","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T12:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=234792"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:12:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:12:47","slug":"european-leaders-cannot-remain-silent-about-irans-recent-terrorist-exploits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/blog\/op-ed\/european-leaders-cannot-remain-silent-about-irans-recent-terrorist-exploits\/","title":{"rendered":"European Leaders Cannot Remain Silent About Iran\u2019s Recent Terrorist Exploits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"European<\/p>\n

By Alejo Vidal Quadras<\/strong><\/p>\n

It has now been several days since a high-ranking Iranian diplomat<\/a> was convicted of plotting to carry out a major terrorist attack on European soil. One would think that this would be a major source of public commentary in Western policy circles and that this commentary would already be setting the stage for a coordinated political response to the underlying phenomena. Instead, the response from European leaders has been muted at best, raising concerns among critics of the Iranian regime about whether those leaders plan to sweep this entire incident under the rug.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it isn\u2019t difficult to imagine why certain Western policymakers would be in favor of that outcome. Serious public comment on the recent conviction would undermine longstanding preferences for ordinary diplomatic dialogue and conciliatory relations with the Iranian regime. Such policies keep the door open for commerce and the purchase of Iranian oil, and they shunt aside the complicated political goal of confronting and mitigating state-backed terrorism.<\/p>\n

Of course, every time the decision is made to downplay or disregard these issues, the European Union is gambling with its own security. This is more apparent now than it has been in years, following last Thursday\u2019s conviction of Assadollah Assadi<\/a>, who until July 2018 served as the third counsellor at the Iranian embassy in Vienna. Assadi went on trial in Belgium last November following a two and a half year investigation into his role as the mastermind of a plot to blow up the annual gathering<\/a> of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.<\/p>\n

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Iran\u2019s Terrorist-Diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, Led a Large Espionage & Terrorism Network in EU<\/div><\/div>
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