There is nothing that the Iranian regime will not stoop to while trying to maintain its hold on power with an iron fist. I would even risk murdering thousands of innocents on western soil if I could murder an opposition leader. I know why I was one of them.
On Thursday, a Belgian court sentenced an Iranian official for conspiring to bomb a dissident rally outside Paris in June 2018. He hit Assadollah Assadi with the maximum sentence, 20, for attempted terrorist murder and working with a terrorist group.
He was an intelligence agent for Department 312 of the regime’s internal security directorate, which the European Union classifies as a terrorist organization, but worked undercover as a diplomat at the Iranian embassy in Vienna. Three accomplices received sentences from 15 to 18 years. Belgium concluded that the scheme was planned and approved by Tehran.
Let it fall on your head: Iran attempted a terrorist attack on European soil, targeting an event with former high-profile officials from the United States, Canada and Europe, including former Governor Bill Richardson, former FBI director Louis Freeh, former army chief of general George Casey, former mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper and former foreign ministers of France and Italy. How can President Biden and European leaders want to deal with – and normalize – such a murderous regime?
I remember waking up almost three years ago with the news that I may have been murdered the day before. My head hurt a little when I gripped my phone groggily. I was up late into a deep discussion with Iranian-Americans and Canadians in the hotel lobby.
It was the second time that I covered the annual event, organized by the exiled pro-democracy group, the National Resistance Council of Iran. The previous year, I spent hours interviewing three young men who were arrested and tortured under the so-called moderate president Hassan Rouhani. Many participants told similar stories about the persecution they or their loved ones suffered before escaping the Islamic Republic. Some shared their stories with me while I distracted a couple’s cute kids by installing a popular game on my phone.
These children can be part of the future of a free Iran: their parents plan to return if the regime falls and help their countrymen in the reconstruction. But they could have been murdered, along with tens of thousands of others, if the Belgian and German security services had not thwarted Iran’s plan at the last minute.
Assadi brought a pound of explosives and a detonator on a commercial flight from Iran to Vienna – he carried them in a diplomatic bag! – then he drove to Luxembourg to hand them over to an Iranian couple who were granted political asylum in Belgium.
Police arrested the two while driving their Mercedes to Paris on the day of the event. Another accomplice was arrested and Assadi was captured in Germany – where officials said his diplomatic immunity from Austria did not apply.
The target of the plot was NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi; Iran blames its opposition group for protests against the regime that rocked the killer mullahs.
Assadi appears to lead Tehran’s European espionage network: a notebook details 289 places in 11 European countries where he made contact with alleged agents. In prison, he was visited by Reza Lotfi, a contact between Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the intelligence agency.
Foreign Minister Javad Zarif first said the failed attack was a “false flag” operation – but it appears he was part of the plot. “The attack plan was designed in the name of Iran and under his leadership,” Jaak Raes, head of Belgium’s State Security Service, told prosecutors. “It was not a personal initiative by Assadi.”
The terrorist showed no remorse and refused to testify at his trial, claiming diplomatic immunity – but he threatened Belgian authorities that, if found guilty, unidentified groups could retaliate. Zarif also did not contest the evidence; his ministry simply states that diplomatic immunity makes the conviction invalid.
You must remember Zarif’s face in the pictures of him smiling next to John Kerry, who as secretary of state helped negotiate the nuclear deal – and who out of office met with Zarif several times, trying to undermine President Donald Trump’s policy to Iran.
The Biden administration wants to meet with this murderous man again, in an attempt to resume business. Europe is looking forward to seeing this happen. But the plot of Paris proves that this regime is not an actor in good faith. And it is capable of many deaths and destruction, even without a nuclear weapon.
Kelly Jane Torrance is a member of The Post’s editorial board.
Twitter: @KJTorrance