\n\n“Europe \u2014 the staging ground for most Iranian operations in recent years \u2014 has been afraid to make Tehran pay. Since 2015, Iran has carried out about a dozen operations in Europe, killing at least three people and abducting several others, security officials say.”
…
“\u201cIf the Islamic Republic doesn\u2019t receive any punishment, is there any reason for them to stop taking hostages or kidnapping or killing?\u201d she said, and then answered: \u201cNo.\u201d”
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“Over the course of a few months last year, Iran undertook a flurry of attacks from Latin America to Africa. In Colombia, police arrested two men in Bogot\u00e1 on suspicion they were plotting to assassinate a group of Americans and a former Israeli intelligence officer for $100,000; a similar scene played out in Africa, as authorities in Tanzania, Ghana and Senegal arrested five men on suspicion they were planning attacks on Israeli targets, including tourists on safari; in February of this year, Turkish police disrupted an intricate Iranian plot to kill a 75-year-old Turkish-Israeli who owns a local aerospace company; and in November, authorities in Georgia said they foiled a plan hatched by Iran\u2019s Quds Force to murder a 62-year-old Israeli-Georgian businessman in Tbilisi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether such operations succeed or not, the countries behind them can be sure of one thing: They won\u2019t be made to pay for trying. Over the years, the Russian and Iranian regimes have eliminated countless dissidents, traitors and assorted other enemies (real and perceived) on the streets of Paris, Berlin and even Washington, often in broad daylight. Others have been quietly abducted and sent home, where they faced sham trials and were then hanged for treason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While there\u2019s no shortage of criticism in the West in the wake of these crimes, there are rarely real consequences. That\u2019s especially true in Europe, where leaders have looked the other way in the face of a variety of abuses in the hopes of reviving a deal to rein in Tehran\u2019s nuclear weapons program and renewing business ties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike the U.S. and Israel, which have taken a hard line on Iran ever since the mullahs came to power in 1979, Europe has been more open to the regime. Many EU officials make no secret of their ennui<\/em> with America\u2019s hard-line stance vis-\u00e0-vis<\/em> Iran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIran wants to wipe out Israel, nothing new about that,\u201d the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told POLITICO in 2019 when he was still Spanish foreign minister. \u201cYou have to live with it.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “the dictatorship\u2019s rationale for such killings has been to protect itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe highest priority of the Iranian regime is internal stability,\u201d a Western intelligence source said. \u201cThe regime views its opponents inside and outside Iran as a significant threat to this stability.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Much of that paranoia is rooted in the Islamic Republic\u2019s own history. Before returning to Iran in 1979, Khomeini spent nearly 15 years in exile, including in Paris, an experience that etched the power of exile into the Islamic Republic\u2019s mythology. In other words, if Khomeini managed to lead a revolution from abroad, the regime\u2019s enemies could too.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n