- The plot was contained; there is no threat currently, a U.S. official said.
- Mexico denies knowledge of alleged attack on Israeli ambassador.
- Israel thanks Mexico for foiling alleged Iranian plot.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps planned to assassinate Israel’s ambassador to Mexico late last year, but the effort was contained and there is currently no threat, a U.S. official said Friday.
The Mexican government said later in the day that it had “no information regarding an alleged attack on the Israeli ambassador to Mexico.”
The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the plot against Ambassador Einat Kranz Neiger had been active throughout the first half of this year.
“The plot has been contained and does not pose a current threat,” the official told Reuters. “This is just the latest in a long history of deadly targeting by Iran against diplomats, journalists, dissidents and anyone who disagrees with them, something that should deeply concern every country where there is an Iranian presence.”
The official declined to say how the plot was foiled or provide further details of the operation.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement, thanked Mexico’s security and law enforcement agencies for “thwarting an Iranian-led terrorist network that sought to attack the Israeli ambassador to Mexico.”
The Iranian embassy in Mexico said the accusation was “entirely false”, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
“We will never tarnish the good name of Mexicans, our friends. We consider the betrayal of Mexico’s interests as a betrayal of our own interests, and respect for Mexican laws is our highest priority,” Mehr quoted the embassy as saying.
The United States and its allies have frequently asserted that Iran and its proxies have sought to launch violent attacks against Tehran’s opponents. Iranian officials have rejected the allegations, saying they are politically motivated.
A dozen other countries condemned what they called a surge in assassination plots, kidnappings and harassment by Iranian intelligence services.
Britain’s domestic intelligence chief, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum, said last month that Iran was “frantically” trying to silence its critics around the world, and cited how Australia had exposed Iran’s involvement in anti-Semitic plots and Dutch authorities had revealed a failed assassination attempt.
