Authorities in Cyprus, in cooperation with Israeli and US intelligence services, thwarted an attack planned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), on Jewish and Israeli targets on the island, media in Israel reported Sunday.
According to the reports, the attack was thwarted through “coordination between Cypriot intelligence services and US and Israeli intelligence services.”
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that, “Israel welcomes the foiling of the Iranian terrorist attack in the territory of Cyprus against Israeli targets.”
“Israel operates everywhere in a wide variety of methods in order to protect Jews and Israelis and will continue to act to sever Iranian terrorism wherever it raises its head, including on Iranian soil,” the statement said.
However, the PM’s statement did not give any more details, according to Reuters.
Earlier, Ynet news said state intelligence services captured a number of suspects through a coordinated operation with “Western partners,” apparently the United States and Israel, stating various reports.
It added that the movements of the terror cell were closely followed by Cypriot intelligence over the past few months. “The cell operated out of the northern side of the island, which is controlled by Türkiye. They dispatched operatives from there into Greek Cyprus,” the website wrote.
For its part, i24 news said the attack aimed at killing Jews was plotted by intelligence services linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
Meanwhile, the Israeli Channel 13 said this is the second Iranian attempt to attack Israel in Cyprus in the past two years. An Azeri suspect with a Russian passport was arrested after acting on behalf of the IRGC.
Earlier this year, Israel's National Security Council warned of possible attacks against Jews in Cyprus and Greece.
In March, Greek police disrupted what they called a foreign terrorist network operating within the country and arrested two Pakistanis, who were plotting to attack Israelis in Greece.
The Iranian embassy in Greece denied any connection to a plan to launch attacks against Israeli targets in Athens.
“This is another example of Iran trying to use terror against Israeli and Jewish targets overseas,” said the Mossad at the time.
In a rare statement, the Israeli agency said it had also helped identify the connection between the local terror cell in Greece and Iran’s broader global terror operations.
“The affair that was uncovered today in Greece is a severe case that was successfully thwarted by the Greek security forces. It was an additional attempt by Iran to perpetrate terrorism against Israeli and Jewish targets abroad,” Netanyahu said at the time.
Last year, Türkiye and Israel announced they thwarted an Iranian plan to kidnap and assassinate Israeli diplomats and tourists visiting or living in Istanbul.
In 2012, a bomb exploded near the Israeli embassy in Bangkok, the Thai capital, and three intelligence agents were arrested, before being released in 2020, under an exchange deal.
In the same year, a bombing of an Israeli diplomatic car in New Delhi wounded four people, including a diplomat's wife. A similar bomb found under a car in Georgia a few days earlier was defused.
The Times of Israel also reported that in November, Georgian security officials foiled an attempt by a Pakistani citizen to murder an Israeli in Georgia on orders from an Iranian operative.
