The Embassy of the Iranian regime in Albania, last year Iranian regime’s ambassador and his deputy were expelled from Albania for their involvement in failed terrorist plots against MEK members in Albania

In December 2018, the Albanian government expelled Gholamhossein Mohammadnia, the Iranian ambassador, and Mostafa Roudaki, the head of the Iranian regime’s intelligence station in the country. At the time, the decision was applauded by governments across the globe, including the Trump administration in the US.

The decision came on the back of a string of foiled Iranian state-sponsored terror plots on European soil. The Iranian regime had been using its web of European embassies to coordinate terror attacks against the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK), the largest Iranian opposition group.

One such attack, planned during the Persian New Year celebrations in 2018, was due to be carried on in Albania. The regime had planned to detonate a bomb at the MEK’s compound in the country. The plot was foiled by Albanian authorities in the late stages of execution.

Renewed Attempts to Infiltrate Albania

Now, just six months later, there have been reports of renewed regime attempts to infiltrate Albania. The regime is once again trying to send spies and assassins to the country to target MEK members.

Based on reports obtained by MEK sources inside the Iranian regime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have prepared a delegation of spies and terrorists that will attempt to enter the country under the guise of businesspeople and journalists. Gholam Hossein Kazemi, a senior figure in the IRGC and director of Asia-Kar Bakhtar, a contracting company, will likely head the delegation. The regime will secure visas and residence permits for IRGC agents under the name of Kazemi’s company.

A Tried and Tested Technique

Senior officials in the regime have publicly revealed that this is a favorite tried and tested strategy for regime agents. They apply for visas and residence permits under the name of state-affiliated companies or as foreign journalists. Once inside the country, they connect with other agents and coordinate terror attacks and assassinations.

Ali Fallahian, the former head of intelligence for the Iranian regime, said: “The Ministry of Intelligence needs cover to gather information, whether inside or outside of the country.” He added, “we do not send an intelligence officer to Germany or the United States saying I am from the Ministry of Intelligence. It is necessary to have [a] business or journalism cover.”

An Albanian TV network named Report TV revealed that Albanian counterintelligence agencies had been actively monitoring 10 persons of interest in the country. “Law enforcement agencies in Albania are particularly concerned about Iranians who may be employed by Tehran’s secret services to take steps to compromise the protection of 3000 Iranian PMOI refugees in Albania,” it said.

Now Is the Time

In a statement, the Iranian opposition reminded governments around the world that the Iranian regime’s terror activities across Europe have deadly consequences. In light of recent planned terror attacks in the US, Albania, France, Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands, the MEK urged European and US government to include both the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) and the IRGC on their international terror blacklists.

Only through the IRGC and MOIS’s complete exclusion from the international financial system and collapse of their donor base will the international community be able to mitigate the threat of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism. To eliminate the threat in its entirety, nothing short of regime change in Iran will succeed.

Staff writer