Britain and 13 allies including the United States and France condemned on Thursday what they called a surge in assassination, kidnapping and harassment plots by Iranian intelligence services targeting individuals in Europe and North America.
“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 countries said in a joint statement, according to Reuters.
The governments - of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US - called on the Iranian authorities to immediately stop such illegal activities.
They said such actions were increasingly carried out in collaboration with international criminal networks.
The statement came two days after Darya Safai, a Belgian-Iranian member of Brussels' Parliament, accused Iranian forces of planning to kidnap her in Türkiye.
“Today, the Belgian police and security services contacted me regarding an alarming situation concerning my safety. They had received worrying information indicating that the Islamic regime in Iran wants to kidnap me and take me to Tehran,” she posted on X.
Last month, the British parliament said in a report that Iran poses a significant and wide-ranging threat to Britain.
Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee said the Iranian threat varied from physical attacks, to espionage, offensive cyber capabilities and its attempt to develop nuclear weapons.
The report's authors said they had been advised the physical threat was “comparable with the threat posed by Russia.”
Since early 2022, Britain says it has disrupted more than 20 Iran-linked plots to kidnap or kill individuals in the UK, including British nationals and others Tehran views as threats.
In October, Reuters reported that Iran was behind a wave of attempted assassinations and abductions across Europe and the United States.
In March, the British government announced it would require the Iranian state to register all political influence activities, citing increasingly aggressive behavior by Tehran's intelligence services.
Early last month, a Danish national has been arrested in Denmark on suspicion of spying for Iran by collecting information on Jewish sites and individuals in Berlin, and will be extradited to Germany.
German prosecutors said the man spied on three properties in June in preparation for further intelligence activities, including possibly attacks on Jewish targets.
Germany's foreign ministry said the Iranian envoy was summoned to express the country’s serious concerns about the case, which has further strained relations between Berlin and Tehran.
In return, the Iranian embassy in Berlin rejected the allegations as “unfounded and dangerous accusations” that it said appeared designed to distract from Israeli attacks on Iran.
Also, Spain's High Court charged last month eight individuals with the attempted assassination of former right wing politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras over his ties to an Iranian opposition group and support for dissident groups.
