Denmark accuses Iran of assassination plot on Danish soil
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Denmark’s intelligence chief accused Tehran of planning to assassinate an opponent of the Iranian government on Danish soil. Iran “strongly” dismissed the claim made by Denmark Tuesday.
The alleged attack had meant to target the leader of the Danish branch of the separatist Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA), Danish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne Møller Ege told CNN. The group, which Iran classifies as a terror organization, advocates for an independent Arab state within the Iranian province of Khuzestan.
Denmark has summoned Iran’s ambassador, Morteza Moradian, following the alleged “assassination” attempt by an Iranian intelligence agency, which the Nordic country’s foreign minister called “completely unacceptable.”
“An Iranian intelligence agency has planned an assassination on Danish soil. This is completely unacceptable. In fact, the gravity of the matter is difficult to describe. That has been made crystal clear to the Iranian ambassador in Copenhagen today,” Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen, said in a statement released Tuesday.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi dismissed the claim and said it was in line “with the enemies’ plots and conspiracies against the good and ever-growing Iran-Europe relations under present grave and special conditions,” according to state-run IRNA news. Denmark will push for new EU-wide sanctions against Iran following the suspected assassination attempt, the ministry confirmed to CNN, adding that the government would be discussing “the issue of an Iranian intelligence agency’s illegal activities in Europe” with international allies.
