The US National Security Agency intercepted communications between Iranian Quds Force operatives in January about a concrete Iranian terrorist plot on American soil – an attack on Fort McNair in Washington DC – in an effort to kill Army Vice Chief of Staff General Joseph M. Martin.
This attack would have been Iran’s revenge for the January 2020 killing of Quds Force head Qassem Soleimani, the second most powerful figure in Iran. It shows that the Quds Force and the regime have not altered their objectives or tactics since the 2013 assassination attempt of Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir, which would have killed hundreds of civilians if the US hadn’t thwarted it.
The Iranian Resistance wrote: “While these two incidents are unique in terms of the amount of attention they received from American media, it would be foolish to assume that no other plots were unravelled or abandoned in the intervening period.”
After all, Iran did plot to bomb a 2018 opposition rally in France, with the intention of killing opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, and this would have killed hundreds or even thousands had European authorities not foiled it. This plot was even orchestrated by Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi and the three underlings he hired – all of whom are now serving time in Belgium after being found guilty earlier this year. The prosecutors said Assadi worked under the direction of high-ranking officials, including Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
The Iranian Resistance wrote: “The European Union, the United Kingdom, and even the United States seem hesitant to acknowledge that these plots all stem from the Iranian regime’s topmost leadership and its theocratic system. Fortunately, that hesitancy is not shared among all lawmakers and politicians in the countries that are most capable of enforcing that accountability. Various US [members of Congress], members of the European Parliament, and current and former European government officials have signed their names to statements in recent months, which urged much more assertive policies aimed at confronting Iran’s status as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.”
The statements call for increased “economic and diplomatic isolation” of Iran unless it dismantles its terrorist infrastructure and ends its plots against the West. Even the US, which doesn’t have trade ties with Iran or an Iranian embassy, must do more to hold Iranian government to account for terrorism, including increased sanctions, before the NSA gets there a little too late.
