WASHINGTON, DC, November 6, 2018 – On Friday, November 2, 2018, Alireza Jafarzadeh, the Deputy Director of the National Council of Resistance of Iran-U.S. Representative Office (NCRI-US), held a press conference to unveil the terror network of the Iranian regime and its role in a chain of terrorist plots in Europe and the United States, revealing the specific regime officials involved in the planning and execution of terrorist operations.
Jafarzadeh drew attention to the fact that the recent wave of terror plots were not the result of some rogue elements within the regime, but rather were decided and planned in the highest levels and carried out “under the supervision of [the Special Affairs Office of the Supreme Leader] after Khamenei personally approved them.”
Stating that there has been a significant surge in terrorist operations in the US and Europe since 2017 and that the regime has revived its terror structure, Jafarzadeh said the regime carried out 2 terror operations in Europe in 2017, but has carried out 8 terrorist plots in the United States and Europe so far in 2018. He said that 4 Iranian diplomats have been implicated this year for involvement of such terror operations and that four major operations were carried out since March. “Tehran has plotted one major terror operation in Europe and the United States every six weeks from March to September 2018,” said Jafarzadeh.
NCRI-US deputy director also explained the significant role Tehran’s Foreign Ministry has been playing as enablers and facilitators of terrorist operations and its culprits. He said that Tehran’s embassy in Vienna has acted as the main hub for a host of intelligence operations in Europe for the past several years. As other embassies played the same role in a host of terror operations over the past three decades.
The primary target of the regime remains the officials of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its pivotal member, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) also known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Just in the past six months, there have been three plots specifically targeting NCRI and MEK, everywhere from the MEK’s members in Albania in March to the annual Iran freedom rally in Paris in June and even within the United States in August.
While the regime intended these operations as a show of strength and intimidation or even eradication of the alternative to this regime, they reveal a deeper fear about the insecurity of the mullahs’ hold on power, particularly in light of the widespread anti-government protests that have shaken Iran for the past year.
Mr. Jafarzadeh commented on the cause for the renewed wave of terror when he said, “For its survival, the regime looks to terrorism against its organized opposition as it plays the key role in the uprising in Iran.”
Mr. Jafarzadeh concluded the conference by detailing a list of steps that Western governments could take to curb the Iranian regime’s aggression, including prosecuting all Iranian agents in the U.S. and Europe, expelling Iranian terrorist diplomats from Europe and shutting down Tehran’s embassies in European capitals and finally sanctioning all entities involved in planning, training, facilitating and funding the Iranian regime’s terrorism.
