Zarif: Europe Cannot Escape Responsibility for Sheltering Terrorists

Iran's Foreign Minister, in the first reaction from a senior official of the Islamic Republic to the European Union's plan to sanction Tehran, accused several European countries of harboring what he termed 'terrorist' groups and stated they cannot evade responsibility for it. Mohammad Javad Zarif's Twitter response came after Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen announced on Tuesday, January 8, that the EU had agreed to impose sanctions on one of Iran's intelligence agencies due to 'planning a terrorist act on European soil.' Zarif wrote on his Twitter account: 'Europeans, including Denmark, the Netherlands, and France, are bases for the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization – which has killed 12,000 Iranians and collaborated in Saddam's crimes against the Kurds in Iraq – and other terrorist groups that carry out massacres of innocent Iranians from Europe.' He added, 'Europe cannot evade the burden of responsibility for sheltering terrorists by accusing Iran.' Informed sources in the EU told Radio Farda that during their meeting on Tuesday, the EU sanctioned the Internal Security Office of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and two individuals named 'Saeed Hashemi Moghadam and Assadollah Assadi.' Assadollah Assadi is an Iranian diplomat who was arrested in Germany in July this year on charges of attempting to bomb a Mojahedin-e Khalq meeting in Paris. Saeed Hashemi Moghadam is also the deputy minister of intelligence in Iran, accused of ordering the bombing at an anti-regime gathering in the suburbs of Paris. Earlier, France announced on October 2 that it had frozen assets belonging to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and two Iranian citizens due to their connection with an unsuccessful attack on the Paris conference; it was also reported that an Iranian diplomat had been expelled from France. The Mojahedin-e Khalq conference was held on July 9 in the suburbs of Paris, and following it, French officials announced the thwarting of a plot to attack this conference. Denmark also accused the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence on October 30 of attempting to assassinate an anti-regime activist. The Danish Security Service had stated that a Norwegian-Iranian citizen was arrested in the country on suspicion of collaborating with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and attempting to attack members of the 'Ahvaz Movement,' but this individual denied the charges. The news of new sanctions against Iran comes as Denmark announced on November 20 that it would return its ambassador to Tehran.