A double agent reveals details of an Iranian plan to target a television channel in London
Iranian Revolutionary Guard spies offered a man active in the field of human smuggling, Muhammad Hussein Dovtayev, $200,000 to assassinate two presenters of the Persian-language channel Iran International in west London, in an attempt to intimidate critics of the regime, that they “can be harmed for a long time.” At any time,” according to a special report published by the British channel “ITV.”
The British channel revealed video recordings and text messages exchanged between members of the Revolutionary Guard and the agent they tried to recruit. He revealed the assassination plot to Western security services before targeting the channel, which became a target following its reports on the death of Mahsa Amini while in detention in Iran and the subsequent protests last year. .
Iran International said last February, shortly after Dovtaev’s arrest, that it would move its live broadcast studios to the United States after the threats it faced in Britain. The channel resumed broadcasting from London in September.
Before its move, Revolutionary Guard spies made plans to attack the studios of the Iran International channel, which broadcasts in the Persian language and is headquartered in a commercial complex in west London, by detonating a car bomb. But a change occurred in the plan, with tighter security on the canal building, and instead of detonating a car bomb, the leaders of the Revolutionary Guard decided that “a knife attack has a greater chance of success.” They identified two influential broadcasters to stab them with a knife.
Revolutionary Guard spies devised a plan to target the broadcasters, who were symbolically referred to as “the groom and the bride.” But the attack plan was foiled by the same human trafficker they hired to carry out the attacks, who is in fact a double agent, according to ITV.
The spies told the double agent: “This thing must be done in London under any circumstances. We have to end them.”
The client’s cooperation with the Revolutionary Guards began in 2016 in the field of shipping, after they learned of his criminal activity in several European countries. Communications between him and the Revolutionary Guards resumed in 2022, but they did not know that he had been recruited by a Western intelligence agency. The agent briefed the Western intelligence service on the Revolutionary Guards’ plans to assassinate journalists.
The agent received promises to obtain privileges, including easy movement between Iran and Syria without the need for documents and passports, provided that a ship would transport him to Syria and from there to Iran.
The evidence, which the Revolutionary Guards tried to hide, once again reveals the method used by Iranian spies, which includes hiring international criminals, rather than ideological people, to carry out assassinations abroad.
The double agent said, “The leaders of the Revolutionary Guard decided to attack the targets inside their homes, in elevators, on the stairs or in the corridors.”
The channel decided to temporarily move its studios to Washington in November last year, after receiving information from the British police regarding attempts by the “Iranian authorities” to attack it.
Broadcasters Farzad Farzad and Sima Thabet did not know that they were the target of the assassination plot until more than a year later, after they received a call from the ITV channel.
The channel indicated that the leaders of Unit 840, charged with carrying out foreign operations in the “Quds Force,” the foreign arm of the “Revolutionary Guard,” identified the broadcaster as a target.
The leader of Unit 840, Muhammad Reza Ansari, was the mastermind of the assassination plan. He is on the US sanctions list. Ansari instructed one of his Syrian members, Muhammad Abd al-Razzaq Kanafani, to carry out the assassination plans, according to the ITV channel.
The channel said that Ansari ordered Kanafani to arrange the attack plan, which they referred to as the “wedding” during their calls. Before the assassination plan focused on the two broadcasters, it was supposed to include the director of the “Iran International” channel, his deputy, and five to six people from the channel’s staff.
The report came hours after a man was convicted of carrying out a “hostile reconnaissance” act targeting the “Iran International” channel, collecting information that could be used in a terrorist attack.
Dovtayev moved from Austria to London in February, before heading directly to the channel’s headquarters in west London.
Prosecutor Nicholas de la Poyer told the London newspaper The Old Bailey last week that the Iranian intelligence minister had declared Iran International a terrorist organization, and that others had monitored the channel before Dovtayev. Dovtayev denied one count of trying to collect information potentially useful to a person committing or preparing a terrorist act, and claimed he was “set up” to visit Iran’s international office in London.
A jury convicted Dovtayev on Wednesday. He showed no emotion when pronouncing the conviction. Judge Richard Marks said he would sentence Dovtaev on Friday. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
A spokesman for Iran International said in a statement: “This trial was a reminder of the threats journalists and news organizations face. “Journalism is under attack around the world from those who seek to suppress media freedom.” He added: “The threats will not intimidate us. “Our journalists will continue to provide the independent, uncensored news that the Iranian people deserve.” He went on to say: “Today’s ruling sends a clear message that the United Kingdom remains a bastion of freedom of expression, as threats against journalists will not be tolerated,” Reuters reported.
Dominic Murphy, commander of the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism unit, said in a statement: “Dovtayev never said for whom or with whom he was working, and we could find no further evidence of that, but we found sufficient evidence to show the jury that he was there to carry out relevant activities.” Link to terrorism. He added: “His actions were suspicious and sharply highlight our concerns regarding the threats emanating from Iran that continue to be directed at certain individuals and media organizations here in the UK.”
The revelation of the new details comes a week after Britain imposed sanctions on the commander of the Quds Force, Ismail Qaani, and his most prominent aides.
The sanctions came in the context of a new law that came into effect, granting the government broad powers to act against Iranian decision-makers and those who comply with their orders, in response to “unprecedented threats,” including plots to kill individuals in Britain.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a statement: “The Iranian regime’s behavior poses an unacceptable threat to the United Kingdom and our partners.” He pledged to hold Iran accountable for its actions and disrupt its hostile activities in Britain.
Last month, the British government faced pressure from Parliament and the House of Lords to classify the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.
At the end of October, British media reported that anti-terrorism services in Britain were closely monitoring the possibility that Iran would carry out actions targeting its opponents and critics in Britain, as the war between Hamas and Israel intensified.
British security services monitor institutions, groups and mosques suspected of having links with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The head of the British Internal Intelligence Service (MI5), Ken McCallum, warned of the dangers of “terrorism” supported by Iran, expecting that developments in the Middle East region would reflect “an increase in the size of the terrorist threat.”
Last November, McCallum said that Iran had been involved in 10 plots “to kidnap or even kill British individuals or residents of the United Kingdom” that year and so far. By February this year, the number had risen to 15.
A Foreign Ministry source said last January that Britain was seriously considering classifying the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, but had not reached a final decision. The plan sparked heated debate within the government and parliament.
At the beginning of last February, The Times reported that the government had “temporarily” halted the project to place the Revolutionary Guard on the terrorist list, after opposition from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, despite the insistence of the Ministry of Interior.
Britain fears that it will lose its remaining influence in Iran and expel its ambassador to Tehran if it decides to place the Revolutionary Guards on the terrorist list, as The Guardian newspaper reported last October. Earlier, British newspapers linked British fears of faltering negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement with the classification of the “Revolutionary Guards.”
It is not yet clear what strategy the new Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, will adopt regarding the demands put forward to classify the Revolutionary Guards on the terrorist list.
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2023-12-22 01:40:52
