An Iranian plot to assassinate an opposition leader has been revealed by a Danish police mission this week. According to a report on Tuesday, Denmark’s intelligence chief, Finn Borch Andersen said that a Norwegian of Iranian descent was arrested last week for operating an Iranian intelligence agency “to act in Denmark” in an assassination mission aimed at an Iranian opposition leader.
Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said that it was “totally unacceptable” for Iran to plot an attack on Danish territory, and that he would talk with European allies about potential undetermined “further steps” in response to the attempted attack. The suspect was seen taking pictures of the residences of members of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA). Iran accuses the group of being accountable for an attack on a military parade in September, which more than 25 people died.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen expressed his concern over the incident via Twitter, stating that “it is totally unacceptable that Iran or any other foreign state plans assassinations on Danish soil,” reiterating that “further actions against Iran will be discussed in the EU”.
After a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May in Oslo, Rasmussen said: “In close collaboration with UK and other countries we will stand up to Iran”.
This week, France concluded that Iran’s ministry of intelligence was behind a foiled bombing attack that targeted a rally organised by an Iranian opposition group near Paris in June. The Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), a fringe organisation loathed by Iran’s establishment, had accused authorities in Tehran of planning the attack near Paris.
An Iranian diplomat was among six people who had been arrested for allegedly plotting the bombing of the event.
