Denmark has accused Iran’s intelligence agencies of planning to assassinate an Iranian activist on Danish soil Iran has previously objected Denmark hosting the members of Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA). Iran’s objection to the Netherlands appears to stem from…
Denmark has accused Iran’s intelligence agencies of planning to assassinate an Iranian activist on Danish soil.
Background
Iran has previously objected Denmark hosting the members of Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA). Iran’s objection to the Netherlands appears to stem from the fact that a number of Arab secessionists live there. ASMLA is an Arab nationalist insurgent group which is seeking a separate state for ethnic Arabs in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan. The Iranian government has classified the group as terrorists.
Khuzestan Province, home to around 80 per cent of Iran’s oil fields and 60 per cent of the country’s natural-gas reserves, borders Iraq. Ethnic Arabs, who in total make up about 3 per cent of Iran’s population, have long complained of social, political, and economic discrimination.
Analysis
Demark says Iranian government intelligence service has tried to carry out a plot to assassinate an Iranian Arab opposition figure on its soil. Denmark has recalled its ambassador to Iran and called for fresh EU sanctions against Iran after it accused Iran’s intelligence agency.
The chief of Demark’s intelligence service PET, Finn Borch Andersen, said that the alleged murder plot had targeted the exiled leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), a separatist group that has a history of carrying out attacks in Iran. ASMLA seeks a separate state for ethnic Arabs in Iran’s oil-producing south-western province of Khuzestan.
“We are dealing with an Iranian intelligence agency planning an attack on Danish soil. Obviously, we can’t and won’t accept that,” Andersen said. The Danish foreign minister, Anders Samuelsen, said the foiled attack was “completely unacceptable” and that his government “will respond to Iran and is speaking with European partners on further measures”.
A Norwegian national of Iranian background has been arrested in Sweden and since extradited to Denmark in connection with the foiled attack, according to officials. The Norwegian suspect had been observed photographing and watching the Danish home of the ASMLA leader. The suspect has denied the charges and the Iranian government also denied any connection with the alleged plot.
Andersen revealed that a massive police operation that cut off Copenhagen from the rest of Denmark for several hours last month was triggered when police noticed a stolen, Swedish-registered car near the home of an Iranian opposition activist. Fearing that an attack was imminent, Danish authorities shut down the Oresund bridge linking Denmark and Sweden and the Great Belt bridge between the islands of Zealand and Funen. Ferry services were also halted. Hundreds of Danish police and soldiers used cars, sniffer dogs and helicopters to hunt for the rental car.
The incident came shortly after Tehran summoned the UK, Dutch and Danish envoys and urged Denmark and the Netherlands to extradite Iranian exiles who they said were responsible for a terrorist attack on September 23 in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, which killed at least 24 people, including children. The ASMLA initially took responsibility for the attack, but later withdrew its claim.
Tehran has denied the Danish allegations, saying they were part of a European conspiracy against Iran. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, dismissed the allegation and said that the timing of the accusations was suspicious. “This is a continuation of enemies’ plots to damage Iranian relations with Europe at this critical time,” he said. Iran’s ambassador to Copenhagen was summoned to the foreign ministry for an explanation.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the planned attack “totally unacceptable” and said British Prime Minister Theresa May had voiced her support for Denmark during a meeting in Olso. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thanked Denmark’s government for arresting the “Iranian regime assassin”. In May, Pompeo had claimed that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was carrying out “assassination operations in the heart of Europe”, an allegation that at the time bewildered security experts, given that there had been no killings in Europe officially attributed to the Iranian state. Since then, France and now Denmark has directly blamed Tehran.
The recent plot joins other Iranian-backed attacks and incidents in Europe. France accused Iran of plotting attacks too. The attack had targeted a rally organized by an Iranian opposition group near Paris in June. In connection to the same, Germany has backed the extradition of Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat based in Austria and detained in Germany. In November 2017, a gunman shot Ahmad Mola Nissi who was also the former leader of a group closely licked to ASMLA in Hague. Tehran denied the allegations then, calling it a conspiracy to “sabotage Iran’s ancient and longstanding relations with France and other significant European countries”.
The incident comes amid disagreements between the US and Europe over the fate of 2015’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal. European Union had vowed to help Iran evade the sanctions imposed by the US. Relations with Europe are vital to Iran’s bid to weather out US-imposed sanctions. The US sanctions on Iranian oil will take full effect on November 5th.
Assessment
Our assessment is that Iran is losing its stand among the EU countries with the allegations. EU had backed Iran considering the impact of US sanctions on European Companies doing business in Iran. Trump has warned that any nation that helps Iran, will be met with sanctions which have put Europe under pressure. The EU is gradually pulling away from its support at the cost of an unstable relationship with Iran.
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