- A Belgian court has sentenced an Iranian diplomat to 20 years in prison in 2018 for a contaminated bomb plot.
- Assadollah Assadi is the first Iranian official to be convicted in Europe since 1979 and sent to prison.
- Intel officials tell Insider that they support attacks and kidnappings of Europeans around the world.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
Information officials in Europe are expecting retaliatory attacks from Iran following the conviction and sentencing of one of its diplomats on Thursday, sources told Insider.
A court in Antwerp, Belgium, has sentenced Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to plotting to hold a June 2018 meeting of the National Resistance Council of Iran, an allied dissident group, in Paris bomb.
Assadi and his three Iranian co-accused, some of whom hold dual citizenship in Europe, were found guilty after an investigation in Europe caught transporting explosives to direct the 2018 rally. The conspiracy was eventually thwarted by the French, German and Belgian police.
—Nick Beake (@Beaking_News) February 4, 2021
Although the Islamic Republic was accused of numerous violent operations in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s, Assadi – who described European intelligence sources under diplomatic cover as an intelligence operator – was the first Iranian diplomat to be convicted and imprisoned in Europe since 1979. when sent.
“Assadi is a man of the Quds Force,” said a Belgian military intelligence official working under diplomatic cover in the Middle East, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ external operations branch.
All of the sources interviewed for this article cannot be named due to the sensitive nature of their work, but Insider knows their identity.
“We have collected explicit information that he was responsible for European operations aimed at Iranian dissidents in Europe and used his diplomatic post in Vienna as a base of operations,” the official said, adding that this was the reason why prosecutors not considering the diplomatic immunity for Assadi.
“But our certainty about his role also confirms that the Iranians will see it much further than a normal law enforcement operation. They will see it as an operation against them and may very well react aggressively as Assadi has threatened us.”
In March, Assadi allegedly warned Belgian police that his official role as an Iranian operator meant that Belgian or European targets could be hit or put under pressure to enforce his release if convicted – a threat posed by the Belgian intelligence is credible.
The Belgian official told Insider that security around key sites in Europe and abroad would be investigated, and in some cases likely to increase, following the verdict on Thursday.
Belgian citizens living and working in Lebanon, Iraq and parts of the Gulf will also be warned about possible security threats, the official added.
“Our peers across Europe are doing the same,” they said.
Police officers were seen during a trial on November 27, 2020 at a court building. Johanna Geron / Reuters
Intelligence officials also support increasing kidnappings of foreign nationals by Iran in the near future.
“Of course they can repay, and [the Iranians] has a long history of specific passport holders for kidnapping or arrest to act later, “the Belgian officer told Insider.
“Iran has done this in the past in the Gulf, Iraq and Lebanon, as well as in Iran itself, so the threat, the ability and the willingness to act are consistent.”
“The Iranians never bluff about such things,” added a retired Israeli intelligence official who is still a consultant to his government.
“They arrested people in Kuwait in the 1980s, and they and Hezbollah continued to kidnap and hijack people until they were finally released during the first Gulf War,” the Israeli told Insider, referring to the abduction of dozens of foreign hostages in Lebanon between 1984 and 1992.
“It’s even easier to keep someone in Iran from using it as leverage,” the source said. “They do it regularly.”
Prior to the sentencing of Assadi, Iran demanded an exchange of words for a Swedish-Iranian scientist, a dual citizen, who was arrested in Tehran and sentenced to death for espionage.
One European source of information told Insider that Iran is clearly trying to exploit European countries against each other.
Several sources interviewed by Insider have expressed concern that Djalali could be executed at any time in response to the sentencing.
“It’s a classic technique to play allies against each other,” the European official said. ‘They can not get a Belgian, but they can [a] Sweden, so they threaten to kill the Swedes so that Sweden puts Belgium under pressure to exchange. ‘
“It’s transparent and effective.”