Europeans’ Call for Downgrading Relations With Iran’s Regime Is Much Needed, Long Overdue

 By Mohammad Sadat Khansari

he former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi and about 20 other former EU officials released a statement that highlights the implications of a terrorist case that is currently unfolding in Belgium and involves a high-ranking Iran’s regime’s so-called diplomat. 

That diplomat-terrorist, Assadollah Assadi, was the mastermind in a bomb plot that targeted a June 2018 annual “Free Iran” gathering in France, organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).  

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Fearing the Iranian Resistance’s growing domestic and international influence, Tehran became especially fixated on striking a blow against it in the wake of a nationwide uprising at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. The regime’s officials underlined the leading role by Iran’s main opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).  

Among the information released from the Assadi trial is the fact that when he instructed two of his co-conspirators – now co-defendants – to carry the explosive device to the target venue, he specifically told them to place it as close as possible to the opposition leader, NCRI’s President-elect Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. Had those operatives not been intercepted on their way from Belgium to the French border, it is very likely that the bomb would have killed some of the dozens of European scholars and lawmakers who were in attendance and were seated near Mrs. Rajavi. 

Of course, the successful detonation of the bomb would have also resulted in untold numbers of casualties among the general population. It is generally understood that the 500 grams of TATP confiscated from Assadi’s agents was sufficiently explosive to kill hundreds of people in the crowded convention space. And with over 100,000 participants, having traveled there to take part in the rally, it is quite likely that the death toll would have risen further as a result of an ensuing stampede. 

These details of the plot underscore the need for accountability for the two would-be bombers, their handler, and a fourth accomplice who had previously infiltrated the “Free Iran” rally. Accordingly, Thursday’s statement emphasized that the prosecution, which is set to conclude with the reading of a verdict next week, is “necessary” as a “deterrent” to further the Iranian regime’s terrorism on European soil. But the statement also correctly observes that that deterrent is not sufficient on its own and should be recognized as the first step toward a broader strategy of diplomatic isolation. 

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“The activities of Iran’s embassies and religious and cultural centers need to be scrutinized,” said Terzi and a group of former government officials from more than a dozen European countries. They then added that “diplomatic relations with Iran should be downgraded” pending serious, verifiable commitments from the Iranian regime. What’s more, the statement declared, “The European Union should designate Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC in their entirety as terrorist entities.” 

These are all common-sense measures. And more to the point, they are all long overdue. So, for that matter, is a prosecution of the sort that is currently wrapping up in Belgium. Although Assadollah Assadi is by no means the first Iranian diplomat to engage in terrorist activities carried out by either the Iranian regime or its militant proxies, he is nonetheless the first such individual to actually face charges in Europe for that involvement. His arrest seemingly came as a surprise both to Assadi himself and to leading Iranian officials. Throughout the two-year investigation leading up to the trial, Belgium has repeatedly come under pressure to release him in accordance with an absurdly broad Iranian concept of diplomatic immunity. 

That claim of immunity is notably hypocritical coming from the regime’s authorities, who famously do not recognize common international principles such as dual citizenship, and thus routinely refuse consular assistance to persons who are alleged to be detained on the basis of nothing other than their connections to the Western world. But the hypocrisy does not end there. Tehran has also complained that Assadi was granted too little visitation with his attorney, whereas in Iran, “national security cases” proceed without any access to legal counsel whatsoever, or – as in one very recent case – without any trial whatsoever. 

Assadi has had his day in court or would have if he had not refused to appear in person at his trial. Now it is time for the international community to take further steps that expose the dangerous imbalance between how Tehran treats people and how it expects to be treated by them. The regime’s defiant attitude is a sign that longstanding Western policies of appeasement have left the mullahs with a strong sense of impunity, which in turn has emboldened them toward more and more provocative actions, culminating in a terror plot that might have killed dozens of prominent European citizens. 

That tendency toward appeasement may not be readily apparent to all readers, given that Tehran has frequently been the target of oral condemnation. But verbal criticisms have little value in their own right and must ultimately be backed up by a demonstration of real consequences that may follow upon repetition of the behavior that has been rightly condemned. And in Iran’s case, those consequences have been few and far between. Sometimes, European authorities have gone out of their way to make sure Iran avoids them. 

In 1990, a group of gunmen ambushed and murdered the NCRI’s representative in Switzerland, Kazem Rajavi. Two years later, two members of the hit team were arrested in France. But rather than being put on trial, they were soon escorted to the airport and returned home, with a French judge announcing vaguely that this instance of appeasement was considered to be in the national security interest. 

Stories like this one make it clear that Assadi’s prosecution, in and of itself, is a notable milestone in the history of Iranian-European relations. His conviction, which appears all but certain, would be another. Perhaps more importantly, it will be a sign of possible momentum in the direction of less conciliatory dealings with the regime. 

Renowned politicians such as Giulio Terzi and groups like the International Committee in Search of Justice have made a concerted effort to show the international community just where that momentum might lead. When the seriousness of Assadi’s crimes is confirmed for an international audience, that audience must be careful not to view his case as an anomaly. Instead, policymakers and journalists must resolve to look more closely at the overlap between Iran regime’s diplomatic and terrorist networks and to take whatever steps they can to dis-embed one from the other. 

Ultimately, it is the Iranian regime that must make this change. The international community can downgrade relations and increase sanctions to pressure it toward that end. But if Tehran still refuses, the only course of action for the West will be to sever diplomat ties with the Iranian regime, isolating the terrorist network in the process. 

This article was first published by ncr-iran