🌹🌹🌹Europe and US Must Cooperate to Address Iranian Terrorism
Giulio TerziGiulio Terzi
Posted: Dec 03, 2020 12:03 PM
A major change is pending in international
affairs, coinciding with the likely transition from one American presidential
administration to another.
However, the details of that change will not
be solely determined by the difference in political outlook between President
Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Other circumstances will continue to evolve
and change in the weeks to come, which may yet affect Biden's perspective and
that of his advisors.
Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in
matters of policy toward Iran. For one thing, the International Atomic Energy
Agency has recently confirmed ongoing advancements in the Iranian nuclear
program in clear violation of the JCPOA,
which
strongly suggests that the clerical regime is making no effort to wind down its
provocations.
The danger of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon
should certainly remain as a motivating factor in Western policy discussions,
but it is by no means the only threat that those discussions must contend with.
And
if an ongoing court case in Belgium is any indication, it is neither the most
imminent nor the most direct Iranian threat to Western interests.
The Islamic Republic is widely recognized as
the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, but for some reason this does
not seem to have had much impact on its relations with Western countries, in
particular Europe, in recent years. As a result, the Iranian regime has
apparently developed a sense of impunity in such matters, which was placed on
display in spectacular fashion in the summer of 2018, when at least four
Iranian operatives attempted to set off a bomb at a gathering of Iranian
expatriates on Western soil.
The target venue was a convention space outside of Paris which
hosted the annual “Free Iran” rally organized by the pro-democracy coalition
known as the National Council of Resistance of Iran. That event was estimated
to attract as many as 100,000 participants, including hundreds of political
dignitaries from a wide range of political affiliations and nations spanning
Europe and beyond. I personally led the Italian delegation to the conference. I
am also one of the 25 civil parties to the case.
Recently, 240 European lawmakers called attention to the presence
of these dignitaries alongside “the opposition leader Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the
primary target of the conspiracy.” The statement noted: “Had this terrorist
operation succeeded, it would have undoubtedly left hundreds killed and many
more wounded.”
This conclusion is supported by the fact that after two would-be
bombers were arrested while attempting to travel from Belgium into France, the
bomb in their position was detonated within a cordoned area, yet still managed
to injure a police officer who was standing at a supposedly safe distance.
The point is that as Belgian prosecutors argued in the first court
hearing last week, the terror plot was undertaken on the initiative of Iran’s
highest authorities, and with their full understanding of the potential human
cost among both Iranian expatriates and Western personnel.
The value of this broader accountability is underscored by the
fact that one of those four defendants is a high-ranking Iranian diplomat at
the regime’s embassy in Vienna. His role as the plot’s mastermind has been
cited alongside the fact that he personally carried the explosives to Europe,
as evidence of danger posed by the very existence of Iranian embassies in
Western capitals.
Accordingly, the 240 lawmakers demanded that “the continuation of
relations with Iran be made contingent upon the necessary guarantees from the
Iranian regime to put an end to its terrorist acts on European soil,” as well
as that “the necessary practical warnings… be given to Tehran, such as the
closure of its embassies and the expulsion of its ambassadors and diplomats.”
Those “practical warnings” appear all the more necessary in light
of Tehran’s conduct following the arrest of its terrorist-diplomat, Assadollah
Assadi. Regime officials made every effort to block his extradition to Belgium
after he was arrested in Germany. And since then, they have largely continued
to insist that the arrest was illegal, on account of Assadi’s diplomatic
status. Of course, any claim of immunity extends only as far as the boundaries
of his diplomatic posting. But by apparently attempting to extend that immunity
across the entire European Union and to any action, Tehran has signaled that it
believes its diplomats have license to engage in malign activities at any time
and in any place, without consequence.
It is imperative that that expectation be addressed before the new
presidential administration takes power in Washington. The pending reversal of
the U.S. presidency may open the door for Tehran and its apologists to test the
boundaries of its impunity, unless the international community undertakes
serious measures to demonstrate that no such impunity exists.
Part of the responsibility for this falls to the new US administration.
The most prudent approach would be to send a strong message to the Islamic
Republic. The incoming administration would be wise to emphasize the penalties
that loom if Iran maintains its belligerent posture.
At the same time, this advice must be repeated for European
policymakers. To a great extent, it is their policies and their public
recognition of Iranian threats that will determine whether a Biden
administration’s warnings are effective. With a cross-Atlantic cooperation,
Biden will be well positioned to encourage and direct this threat.
Whatever happens between now and January 20, the proper response
to Iran’s malign activity will be a cooperative response. In the wake of the
current terrorism trial, that cooperation must be directed toward safeguarding
the West against the persistent threat of Iranian terrorism.
When it comes to collective safety and security of the West, zero
concession should be made to Tehran. Zero.
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