Yoram Schweitzer, Anat Shapira and Sima Shine
INSS Insight No. 1672, Dec. 19, 2022
“The fact that Iran has failed in its many attempts to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets abroad will not lessen its resolve, and these efforts will continue in the future.”
Since the assassination in Tehran on November 27, 2020, of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of Iran’s military nuclear program, which the regime attributed to Israel, Iran has run an ongoing terrorism program against Israeli and Jewish targets spanning four continents – Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. From January 2021 to December 2022, about 13 Iranian attempted attacks against targets identified with Israel were reported, including diplomatic missions and diplomats, businesspeople, and tourists.
The attacks were carried out at the initiative, management, and direction of specific units in the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards and the Ministry of Intelligence who recruited and operated Iranian agents alongside local recruits, some of whom have a criminal background, to murder Israelis and Jews, in exchange for financial and other benefits. It is evident that Iran preserves for itself room for public denial by using local operatives with dual citizenships, in particular in the execution stages of the operations, alongside ensuring involvement in the information gathering and logistical support stages.
During 2021, Iran tried to carry out about seven operations against Israel, primarily in countries in Africa and Asia, where it enjoys easy access for establishing an infrastructure to carry out terrorism, and where its people or agents have already operated in the past, such as: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, Senegal, and India. Attempts were also made in Western countries such as Cyprus. … [To read the full article, click here]
