JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS—Israel has welcomed the new European Union sanctions against Iran y following its terrorist activities on the Continent.
This was the first time Europe took action against Iran since the signing of the nuclear deal between the world powers and Tehran in 2015.
The EU agreed to enact sanctions against the Directorate for Internal Security of the Iranian Ministry for Intelligence and Security and add it to the EU terrorist list for its assassination plots on European soil, several of which were exposed and thwarted with the help of the Israeli Mossad.
“Important day for European Foreign Policy!” tweeted Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen, who initiated the EU action. “Strong signal from the EU that we will not accept such behavior in Europe.”
A Norwegian citizen of Iranian descent was arrested in Denmark in October on suspicion of helping the Iranian intelligence service to act in Denmark and carry out assassination plots in the country.
The Netherlands and France have also accused Iran of assassination plots on their territory.
The Hague has accused the Islamic Republic of two murders in 2015 and 2017 on Dutch soil.
The Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Yuval Rotem, “commended” the Danish leadership on imposing new EU sanctions on Iran.
“Such steps promote a safer Europe and a safer world from Tehran’s terror-spreading regime,” he stated. “The newly imposed EU sanctions send Iran an important message: Iranian terrorism will not be tolerated, anymore!”
“This is an important first step by the EU, combating Iranian aggression,” the foreign ministry stated. “The newly imposed sanctions offer some hope that a growing number of countries are willing to take an active, clear stand against Iran’s global campaign of terrorism.”
Israel has long been pushing for the renewal of sanctions against Iran, citing its global terrorist network and seditious actions in countries around the world as a cause for punitive action.
During a 4th of July event last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that European leaders had invited Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani to attend a meeting on the nuclear deal, during the same week that the Islamic regime had dispatched a terrorist cell to carry out a major attack in Paris on a dissident rally.
The commander of the cell was an Iranian diplomat in Austria. Operating on Israeli intelligence, European security officials exposed the plot, and the cell members were arrested in France, Belgium and Germany.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also welcomed the European move. ‘’Iran and its Lebanon-based Shi’a proxy Hezbollah “have terrorized Europe since 1979,” he said. “By taking action today, European nations sent Iran a clear message that terrorism will not be tolerated.”
“The US strongly supports the new sanctions and stands with our European allies as we counter this common threat,” Pompeo added.
A recent report by Iranian dissidents has exposed how Iran employs terrorist operatives abroad at their embassies, abusing the legal protection to which such employees are entitled under the diplomatic immunity doctrine.
The report details how in multiple locations around the globe, from Austria to Albania to Iraq, Iran has turned its embassies into “terrorism planning sites” to meddle in the affairs of host governments and hunt down the opposition, according to the report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
During a Fourth of July event this year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that European leaders had invited Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani to attend a meeting on the nuclear deal, during the same week that the Islamic regime had dispatched a terrorist cell to carry out a major attack in Paris on a dissident rally.
The commander of the cell was an Iranian diplomat in Austria. Operating on Israeli intelligence, European security officials exposed the plot, and the cell members were arrested in France, Belgium and Germany.