Iranian Diplomat Held in Belgium Over 'Bomb Plot'

An Iranian diplomat was taken into custody in Belgium on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in an alleged plot to bomb an Iranian opposition rally in France.

An investigating magistrate earlier questioned the Iranian, normally based in Vienna, in the northern Belgian city of Antwerp, the Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that the suspect, previously identified as Assadollah Assadi, had been extradited to Belgium from Germany.

Tehran summoned the German ambassador on Wednesday to protest the extradition, which the foreign ministry said was "caused by a fabricated conspiracy by enemies of Iran and European relations.”

Iran has denied French accusations that Assadi was involved in a plot targeting an annual gathering of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on June 30 just outside Paris.

Belgian anti-terrorism prosecutors announced on July 2 that they had foiled the plot. They then requested the extradition of both Assadi and a man identified as Merhad A., who was detained in Paris.

Belgian police believe Mehrad A. is an accomplice of a husband and wife team caught in Brussels in possession of 500 grammes (about a pound) of the powerful explosive TATP and a detonator.

All three are Belgian nationals of Iranian origin.

The accusations come at a particularly sensitive time as Iran works with European powers to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, abandoned by the United States earlier this year. 

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Belgium Charges Two for Attack Plot on Iran Opposition in France

Belgium, France and Germany have detained six people, including an Iranian diplomat, over an alleged plot to bomb a weekend rally by an exiled Iranian opposition group in Paris, authorities and sources said Monday.

The apparent foiled attack was to have targeted a meeting of thousands of Iranian opposition supporters in a northern suburb of the French capital that was also attended by leading US figures, including close allies of President Donald Trump.

The developments came on the day Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Switzerland on a visit that Tehran said was of "crucial importance" for cooperation between the Islamic Republic and Europe after the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear agreement.

Rouhani is also due to visit Austria, which currently holds the six-month presidency of the European Union, and hosts the detained Iranian diplomat.

Iran's foreign minister dismissed the attack plot as a "false flag ploy" designed to overshadow Rouhani's tour. 

"How convenient: Just as we embark on a presidential visit to Europe, an alleged Iranian operation and its 'plotters' arrested," Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted .

"Iran unequivocally condemns all violence and terror anywhere, and is ready to work with all concerned to uncover what is a sinister false flag ploy," he said.

Federal authorities in Brussels first revealed the arrests, charging a husband and wife described by prosecutors as Belgian nationals "of Iranian origin".

Amir S., 38, and Nasimeh N., 33, "are suspected of having attempted to carry out a bomb attack" on Saturday in the Paris suburb of Villepinte, during the conference organized by the People's Mujahedin of Iran, a statement from the Belgian federal prosecutor said.

The couple were carrying 500 grams (about one pound) of the volatile explosive TATP along with a detonator  when an elite police squad stopped them in a residential district of Brussels.

The statement said that an Iranian diplomat at the embassy in Vienna, a contact of the couple, was also detained in Germany.

In France, three people were taken into custody Saturday, a security source said on Monday—two of them later released.

In Belgium, police carried out five nationwide raids on Saturday, authorities said, though they refused to detail the results.
   
'Around the Corner' 

The Belgian statement said about 25,000 people attended the rally in France where people waved the red, green and white flag of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and cheered its leader Maryam Rajavi.

The NCRI groups some exiled opposition organizations including the former rebel People's Mujahedin, which is banned in Iran.

At the rally, former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani urged regime change in Iran, saying the prospect was closer than ever after the Islamic Republic was hit by a wave of strikes and protests.

Giuliani called for a boycott of companies "that continually do business with this regime".

"Freedom is right around the corner," he said of the recent protests in Iran.

Giuliani and other US politicians have been hugely paid to speak at the annual Paris rally in recent years. Republican firebrand and former House speaker Newt Gingrich also addressed the rally.

The People's Mujahedin, formed in the 1960s to overthrow the shah of Iran, fought the rise of the mullahs in Tehran following the 1979 Islamic revolution. 

It was listed as a "terrorist organization" by the US State Department in 1997 and was only removed from terror watchlists by the European Union in 2008 and Washington in 2012.

Belgium has been on high alert since the smashing of a terror cell in the town of Verviers in January 2015 that was planning an attack on police.

Photp Credit: EPA

Trump Allies Push for Iran Regime Change

US President Donald Trump allies Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani on Saturday urged regime change in Iran, saying the prospect was closer than ever after the Islamic Republic was hit by a wave of strikes and protests.  

Former House speaker Gingrich and ex-New York mayor Giuliani also told a rally of thousands of Iranian opposition supporters in Paris that Trump needed to turn up the heat on European countries still seeking to do business with Tehran despite reimposed US sanctions.

"The only way to safety in the region is to replace the dictatorship with a democracy and that has to be our goal," Gingrich told the Free Iran rally, organized by exiled opponents including the former rebel People's Mojahedin which is banned in Iran.

He stressed he did not speak for the Trump administration, but added: "It seems to me there would be a rather happy celebration should regime change occur."

Gingrich said he did not support arming the Iranian opposition, saying Trump should instead heap on more sanctions after pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

And he blasted countries attempting to find ways to allow their companies to keep operating in Iran under the threat of penalties for US sanction-busting.

"We need to have a campaign to shame the European governments who are unwilling to support freedom and democracy," Gingrich said. "We need to insist that they join the sanctions once again."

Giuliani called for a boycott of companies "that continually do business with this regime".

"Freedom is right around the corner," he added of the recent protests in Iran.

Gingrich, Giuliani and other US politicians have been heavily paid to speak at the annual Paris rally in recent years.

Their comments came after US Secretary Mike Pompeo this week gave his backing to the strikes and protests over economic woes, not least the collapse of the currency following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

On Monday traders at Tehran's Grand Bazaar staged a rare strike following earlier reports of street protests in provincial cities.

Iranians have been hit by rising prices, and record levels of unemployment have left a third of under 30s out of work.

The latest protests follow dozens over the new year which left at least 25 people dead.

The People's Mojahedin were founded in the 1960s against Iran's royalist government and went on to fight the Islamic regime after the 1979 revolution. 

In 2009 the European Union struck the Mojahedin from its list of terrorist organizations, where it had been since 2002. The United States did the same in 2012.

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