Mossad Foils Iranian Attempt to Assassinate Western, Israeli Figures

A view of residential areas in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey April 12, 2022. Picture taken April 12, 2022. (Reuters)
A view of residential areas in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey April 12, 2022. Picture taken April 12, 2022. (Reuters)
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Mossad Foils Iranian Attempt to Assassinate Western, Israeli Figures

A view of residential areas in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey April 12, 2022. Picture taken April 12, 2022. (Reuters)
A view of residential areas in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey April 12, 2022. Picture taken April 12, 2022. (Reuters)

Israeli officials revealed that the Mossad intelligence agency had recently thwarted an Iranian assassination plot against three western and Israeli figures in Turkey, Germany and France.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force had sought to assassinate an Israeli consulate employee in Turkey's Istanbul, a senior American general in Germany and a journalist in France, reported Israel's Ynet and Kan state broadcaster.

Israeli sources confirmed that the Mossad foiled the plot.

The Israeli reports confirm one by the opposition Iran International website that said Tehran had sought to assassinate an Israeli consulate employee in Istanbul.

The website, which is based in London, reported that the Quds Force was to carry out the assassination.

The assailant is part of a secret unit of the Quds Force that "plots and sets up terrorist infrastructure outside Iran" and mainly targets western and opposition figures.

The report added that the assailant was to carry out the assassinations in Istanbul, Germany and France.

He has since been arrested in Europe. He confessed to receiving 150,000 dollars to plan the assassination. He would receive a million dollars after completing the operation with the help of local drug dealers.

The report said this was not the first time Iranians attempt to assassinate Israelis around the world.

Two months ago, Kan reported that Turkish and Israeli intelligence thwarted an attempt to assassinate businessman Yair Geller in retaliation to the killing of Iranian nuclear chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020.

Iran has also been blamed for hampering attempts at normalizing relations between Turkey and Israel.

Iran has vowed to retaliate to the 2020 assassination of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.

He was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020.

Tehran has also vowed to retaliate to the killing of Fakhrizadeh that it blames on Israel.



Russia Says US Using Taiwan to Stir Crisis in Asia

Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
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Russia Says US Using Taiwan to Stir Crisis in Asia

Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)

The United States is using Taiwan to provoke a serious crisis in Asia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told TASS news agency in remarks published on Sunday, reiterating Moscow's backing of China's stance on Taiwan.
"We see that Washington, in violation of the 'one China' principle that it recognises, is strengthening military-political contacts with Taipei under the slogan of maintaining the 'status quo', and increasing arms supplies," Rudenko told the state news agency.
"The goal of such obvious US interference in the region's affairs is to provoke the PRC (People's Republic of China) and generate a crisis in Asia to suit its own selfish interests."
The report did not cite any specific contacts that Rudenko was referring to.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a claim that Taiwan's government rejects. The US is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic recognition.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rudenko's remarks outside office hours.
In September, President Joe Biden approved $567 million in military support for Taiwan. Russia responded that it was standing alongside China on Asian issues, including criticism of the US drive to extend its influence and "deliberate attempts" to inflame the situation around Taiwan.
China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing shortly before launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
In May this year, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.