Using criminals to follow Israelis in Europe and harm them “allows Iran to claim that the elimination operations are criminal in general.”

By JNS

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have been recruiting criminal drug dealers and gang members in recent years to harm Israelis on European soil, according to an investigation by Channel 12.

Tehran does not maintain direct connections with its terrorist cells in Europe to preserve a “space of denial.” Using criminals to follow Israelis in Europe and harm them “allows Iran to claim that the elimination operations are criminal in general,” the report said.

The tactic is not a new phenomenon, with the first evidence of Iran’s use of criminals-for-hire in Europe obtained a decade ago.

“The main Iranian goal was to carry out assassinations of exiled Iranian opposition figures as well as Israeli or Jewish targets. Since 2015, about 20 such attempts have been exposed,” the report states.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is behind a series of terrorist attacks carried out by criminal gangs targeting Israeli embassies throughout Europe since Oct. 7, the Mossad intelligence agency said earlier this year.