US, UK and a dozen other nations call out Iran attempts to ‘kill, kidnap, harass’ citizens

A joint statement issued by the U.S., U.K. and a dozen other Western nations on Thursday called out Iran’s attempts to “kill, kidnap and harass” foreign citizens by working with criminal networks abroad. 

The Western nations highlighted that dissidents, Jewish citizens and journalists, as well as current and former government officials, were being targeted by Iranian intelligence agents in countries across Europe and North America in a direct violation of national sovereignty.

“We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty,” the statement, also backed by Canada, Germany and France, said. 

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“We consider these types of attacks, regardless of the target, as violations of our sovereignty,” the statement, posted by the U.S. Virtual Embassy of Iran, added. “We are committed to working together to prevent these actions from happening and we call on the Iranian authorities to immediately put an end to such illegal activities in our respective territories.”

More than a dozen nations condemned Iran’s actions as “unacceptable,” including Albania, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

The statement, which served not only as an international rebuke, was also an alert to citizens across the European and North American continents of the hostile activities Tehran is pursuing. The warning comes as geopolitical tensions remain high following the Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran last month.

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Reports have long suggested that Iran has increasingly engaged in covert malign behavior to target foreign citizens.

Not only was Iran found to be behind an attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election, but it was also found to be behind a slew of Europe and US-based attacks last fall, reported Reuters. 

The U.K. has also reported more than 20 incidents since 2022 of Iran-linked plots to kill or kidnap British nationals or individuals on British soil – the majority of whom were Iranian dissidents.

Journalists and activists have been targeted in the U.S. by Iranian murder-for-hire schemes and kidnapping plots for years, particularly in the wake of the 2022 mass protests that broke out following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was killed following her arrest in Iran for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab. 

Tehran has repeatedly denied its involvement in the murder-for-hire and abduction plots.