The Iranian regime terrorist activities in Europe involving many of its Embassy staffs. Assadollah Assadi, one of the high officials of the regime in its embassy in Austria, was arrested last year for masterminding a failed terror plot to bomb the huge Iran gathering with over 100,000 participants in Villepinte Paris.

The explosives used in the foiled bombing plot against the 2018 MEK gathering outside of Paris last year were transported on an Austrian passenger plane, according to a report published in the Arabic language Independent newspaper on Tuesday. The report uncovered new details about the planned terrorist attack on the 2018 Free Iran event in Villepinte, France, which was attended by more than 100,000 members of the Iranian Resistance and hundreds of prominent politicians, human rights activists, and dignitaries from around the world.

The planned attack was foiled when an Iranian couple was arrested in Belgium on the day of the rally carrying 500 grams of TATP explosives in their car. The couple was en route to the gathering with plans to set off the explosives inside the auditorium where the rally was taking place when they were apprehended by Belgian police, working in conjunction with French and German authorities.

According to the Independent newspaper, Assadollah Assadi, a Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) agent and regime diplomat stationed in Austria since 2014, obtained the TATP explosives in Iran to use in the terrorist attack. Tehran planned the bombing long in advance, and Assadi was tasked with mapping out and supervising the operation by officials at the highest levels of the regime.

Transporting Explosives

The report described how Assadi transferred the highly explosive material from Tehran to Austria to deliver to the Iranian couple who were charged with detonating the bomb. Assadi left the regime’s embassy in Austria on June 20, 2018, and traveled to Tehran, where he took possession of the TATP explosives. He then placed the highly explosive material into a diplomatic suitcase and boarded the Austrian airline flight OS872 from Tehran to Vienna. There were 240 passengers on the Airbus A320 with Assadi’s bomb.

Assadi was arrested in Germany on the day of the rally and charged with masterminding the attack. Despite protests and threats from the regime, he was extradited to Belgium, where he is currently awaiting trial for attempted murder in connection with the foiled bombing. The Iranian couple also faces charges related to the attack, and one other accomplice who was arrested at the site of the rally has also been charged in connection with the plot against the MEK.

Implications

The foiled bombing of the Free Iran gathering was one of several attempted attacks on the MEK and Iranian dissidents in 2018. The regime attempted to bomb a Nowruz celebration at the MEK’s compound in Albania in March 2018, prompting sanctions from the Albanian government. In August 2018, the FBI arrested two MOIS agents in the U.S. for espionage activities against MEK members. The E.U. expelled several MOIS agents and regime diplomats because of terrorist activities and threats to European security last year.

The Iranian regime sees the MEK as an existential threat, and it will stop at nothing to eliminate its opposition. This places the MEK at risk, but it places the international community at risk as well. 240 passengers sat on an international flight with a terrorist with a bomb in 2018. That bomb then traveled in a car in cities full of people on its way to an auditorium packed with 100,000 civilians asking for freedom. The Iranian regime does not care who is in the path when it detonates its bombs.

Staff writer