Romanian Assailants of Pouria Zareati Arrested

British prosecutors announced the arrest of the assailants of Pouria Zareati, a presenter for the television network 'Iran International.' The British prosecution service stated on Thursday, December 6, that the perpetrators of the knife attack on Pouria Zareati are Romanian citizens and were arrested in Romania on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the British prosecution announced that 19-year-old Nandito Badia and 23-year-old George Stana are charged with intentional bodily harm with the intent to cause serious injury. Mr. Zareati was attacked in London on March 30 by several 'unknown men,' and a few weeks later, British police announced that the suspects in the knife attack on Pouria Zareati are likely Eastern European citizens. 'The Islamic Republic's use of criminal gangs in the West has accelerated.' At that time, The Guardian reported, citing British police, that the suspects were likely 'hired' to carry out this attack and had entered the UK shortly before the assault. Western sources believe that the individuals behind this attack acted on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Anti-terrorism investigators say that since 2022, a series of plots to 'kidnap or even kill... individuals deemed enemies of the Iranian regime' have been designed by several intermediaries and have largely been thwarted. Another example is the 'assassination plot' against Masih Alinejad, a journalist and political activist opposed to the Islamic Republic. U.S. prosecutors previously charged one person two years ago and two others in January of last year with plotting to assassinate this human rights activist, all of whom were citizens of Azerbaijan and members of criminal gangs in Europe and the U.S., and were handed over to the U.S. after their arrest. A federal court in New York this November also charged Rouhollah Bazghandi, the former head of the counter-espionage department of the IRGC Intelligence Organization, with organizing this plot. The Islamic Republic, which has a history of physically eliminating its opponents at various historical periods both inside and outside the country, has recently threatened numerous journalists and political activists abroad with physical elimination through social media or pressured their families inside the country.