The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran) reported that the European Union and the United Kingdom are facing intense backlash for continuing a business-as-usual policy towards the Iranian regime in spite of the recent conviction of an Iranian diplomat for terrorism in Europe.
Plotting to bomb the Iranian Resistance
To catch up, Assadollah Assadi was sentenced to 20 years for plotting to bomb the Iranian Resistance’s 2018 Free Iran Rally in France. He’d hired three accomplices, who were also found guilty and sentenced to a total of 50 years in prison, and personally smuggled the bomb into Europe and handed it over to the would-be bombers.
Thankfully, the plot was foiled and the four were arrested, but prosecutors said that Assadi was working on behalf of the regime’s leaders, including Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
So far, there has been no talk by EU or UK governments of amending their Iran policy or cutting ties with Zarif. In fact, next week they are due to attend a trade summit with him. This is why there has been criticism and demands for the EU and the UK to make relations with Iran dependent on the regime ending terrorism in Europe.
Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism
On Monday, as EU foreign ministers gathered in Brussels for policy discussions, Iranian gathered in Schuman Square, outside the EU headquarters, to demand that the EU acknowledge the terror plot, what was brought up in the trial, and Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism.
They also sought to bring attention to Iran’s other malign behavior, including pursuit of nuclear weapons, ballistic missile development, regional aggression, and human rights abuses, noting that all of this proved why a firmer policy on Iran was needed.
Statement by 200 Iranian communities
This was also the subject of a recent statement by 200 Iranian communities from the EU, UK, US, Canada, and Australia to European Council President Charles Michel and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, which drew a comparison between Iran’s terrorism and “gross and systematic human rights violations inside Iran”.
The statement read: “The inexcusable silence and inaction of Western countries for the sake of obtaining a parochial agreement on the nuclear issue, despite the regime’s human rights violations and terrorism, has emboldened the theocracy to conduct crimes against the Iranian people and the opposition at home and abroad.”
UK and EU to prioritize ending Iranian terrorism
Meanwhile, the International Committee of Parliamentarians for a Democratic Iran, issued a statement last Friday, calling for the UK and EU to prioritize ending Iranian terrorism over maintaining ordinary diplomatic relations. They called for more pressure to be put on the regime.
They wrote: “The International Committee of Parliamentarians for a Democratic Iran calls on the EU Foreign Ministers to agree at their meeting in Brussels on 22 February 2021 to suspend diplomatic relations with Iran [and work together to] dismantle Assadi’s network in Europe and launch an investigation to find, prosecute and expel those Iranian diplomats and agents who are engaged in similar terrorist activities.”
Lord Alton of Liverpool wrote to UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab that the UK must lead Europe in addressing the threat of Iranian terrorism.
and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube