Continued Targeting of Iranian Nationals and Dissidents in Europe

(New York, N.Y.) – Last week, two mysterious incidents involving an Iranian national and dissident took place in Europe. On Friday, a former judge in Iran, Gholamreza Mansouri, was found dead at his hotel in Bucharest, Romania. Mansouri, who was a notorious jailer of journalists, was recently implicated in a high-profile corruption case. With recent calls for Mansouri to be prosecuted in Europe rather than face extradition to Iran, the timing of his death is suspicious. The next day, there was an attempted assassination of a Kurdish Iranian dissident, Sadegh Zarza, in the Netherlands.

While the investigations are ongoing, there are already indications coming from Tehran of foul play. Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei has called Mansouri’s death a “murder” and Mashregh News, which has ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), proclaimed: “As of today, Romania is a point of strategic depth [for Iran].” With the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also passing a resolution last week condemning Iran for stonewalling its investigation into past nuclear activities, the threat of Tehran lashing out in response looms large. As President Hassan Rouhani warned in 2018, the West could see a “deluge” of drugs and terrorism if sanctions are re-imposed.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s report, Iran’s Malign Intelligence Activities, tracks the regime’s history of using the West as a launching pad for assassination campaigns of dissidents and disruptors. Europe is particularly vulnerable, given past Iranian operations in Germany and France. UANI has also documented the regime’s record of targeting journalists in Iran, given the tenures of judges like Mansouri.

To read UANI’s report, Iran’s Malign Intelligence Activities, please click here.

To read UANI’s report, Iran’s War on Journalism and Journalists, please click here.