The French government on Tuesday announced that it had frozen assets belonging to two Iranian men and Iran’s Ministry of Security and Intelligence, a move the government said was linked to a foiled plot to bomb an Iranian opposition group in Paris in June.
The decree announcing the asset freezes which was published in the government gazette identified one of the sanctioned men as Assadollah Asadi, the same name as an Iranian diplomat based in Vienna who has been arrested in connection with the alleged plot.
“In taking this decision, France underlines its determination to fight against terrorism in all its forms, particularly on its own territory,” France’s Interior, Foreign and Economy ministers said in a rare joint statement.
The French move to freeze the Iranian intelligence service’s assets comes a day after Germany approved Asadi’s extradition to Belgium over his suspected involvement in the foiled plot to target a gathering of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in a North Paris suburb.
Asadi, who is believed to be an intelligence agent is suspected of ordering a couple identified as Amir S., 38, and Nasimeh N., 33 to attack the rally and providing them with explosives at a June meeting in Luxembourg.
The couple were caught in Brussels in possession of 500 grams of the powerful explosive TATP and a detonator. A suspected accomplice of the couple, identified as 54-year-old Merhad A. was arrested at a hotel in Paris. All three suspects are Belgian nationals of Iranian origin.
Tehran has however dismissed the alleged bomb plot as a ‘sinister false flag ploy’ designed to discredit Iran at a time when it faces major diplomatic tensions with the United States.
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