The intelligence services of Iran have been accused of carrying out a wave of assassination plots, kidnappings, and intimidation campaigns against people living in Europe and North America in public by the United Kingdom and 13 allies.
Governments from the United States, France, Germany, and Canada called Tehran’s alleged extraterritorial operations a flagrant violation of national sovereignty in a joint statement released on Thursday.
The organization reaffirmed that “we are united in our opposition to Iranian intelligence services’ attempts to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty,” the statement read.
The signatories urged Iranian authorities to stop these activities, which they claimed were increasingly carried out in partnership with international criminal organizations, as well as Albania, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.
Iranian intelligence operatives have been linked to at least 15 plots aimed at people in the UK since 2022, according to a recent UK parliamentary committee.
British authorities have taken stricter measures in response. Iran’s intelligence services cited “escalating aggression” as evidenced by the UK government’s announcement in March that it would be required to report any political influence inside the nation.
Seven Iranians were detained by UK police in May over alleged threats to Iran’s national security, which Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called “suspicious and unwarranted.”
Other regions of Europe have raised similar questions. Iranian officials claimed that Tehran was responsible for a foiled 2024 attempt to assassinate an Iranian dissident in the Netherlands, a charge Iran denied.
Authorities detained two suspects, one of whom is also connected to the shooting of Spanish politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a vocal supporter of the Iranian opposition.
Three European-based gang members and a senior Iranian official were later charged with plotting to kill an Iranian-American journalist by the US Department of Justice across the Atlantic. In addition to the two earlier this year, the third entered a guilty plea. The men allegedly acted against the Iranian government’s wishes. These statements were deemed “baseless” by the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry.
The allegations come as Iran’s nuclear program is at a high level. Iran’s dialogue with Western powers is still stalled. Iranian officials met with British, German, and French diplomats in Istanbul last week for “frank” discussions.
The meeting marked Israel’s first meeting since its mid-June airstrikes against Iran, which sparked a 12-day flare-up involving US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Tehran maintains that its nuclear activities are for civilian purposes only, despite Israel’s claim that it is pursuing nuclear weapons covertly.
