{"id":235473,"date":"2021-02-25T09:38:36","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T14:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=235473"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:10:36","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:10:36","slug":"europe-iran-business-forum-signals-willingness-to-overlook-the-worst-malign-activities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/terrorism-a-fundamentalism\/europe-iran-business-forum-signals-willingness-to-overlook-the-worst-malign-activities\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe-Iran Business Forum Signals Willingness To Overlook the Worst Malign Activities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ne\"europe-iran-business-forum-gives-legitimacy-to-iranian-officials-at-the-worst-time\"<\/p>\n

Starting on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and several other figures from European political and business circles are expected to take part in the three-day Europe-Iran Business Forum. The event was originally scheduled for December but was postponed as a result of international outcry over the Iranian regime\u2019s execution of opposition journalist Ruhollah Zam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The current plans make it unfortunately obvious that the postponement was motivated by reputational concerns among the Europeans and not by a genuine desire to hold Tehran accountable for human rights violations. If this were not the case, then demands for accountability would have only grown stronger over the past two months. Instead, they seem to have virtually evaporated from among the institutions sponsoring the Business Forum, despite recurring demands for more assertive policy from serious critics of the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n

Many of those critics emphasized the idea that a lack of accountability promises to have negative consequences not just for the Iranian people but also for the Western nations that Tehran publicly considers its enemies. To illustrate this, individual lawmakers and Iran-focused NGOs like the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ) have issued a number of statements calling attention to the 2018 terror plot in which an Iranian diplomat and three accomplices planned to set off explosives at a gathering of Iranian expatriates near Paris.<\/p>\n

The diplomat, Assadollah Assadi<\/a>, personally smuggled the requisite explosives into Europe and then handed them off to two of his co-conspirators, an Iranian-Belgian couple that had resided in Europe for years as a sleeper cell. Assadi was also reported to have scouted the venue ahead of time, and was no doubt aware of the fact that hundreds of political dignitaries from across Europe and throughout the world were expected to participate and be seated close to the attack\u2019s prime target, the Iranian Resistance leader Maryam Rajavi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
An Iranian diplomat convicted to 20 years imprisonment by a court in Belgium - February 2021<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>