British security minister: Iran hired criminals to spy on British Jews
British Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat revealed that the Islamic Republic of Iran hired criminals to spy on British Jews and potentially identify assassination targets.
“We know that the Iranians are using non-traditional sources to carry out these operations, including organized criminal gangs. They are paying criminal gangs to conduct surveillance. Basically, the Iranians are using crooks based in Britain to spy for them,” said Tugendhat.
The Iranian regime reportedly is looking for poorly protected Jewish targets around the world to retaliate for Israeli strikes on Iranian targets across the Middle East.
Tugendhat stressed that it was not a coincidence he mentioned Jewish and Israeli targets.
“You can be very clear that I wouldn’t have mentioned Jewish and Israeli targets unless I had good reason to do so,” Tugendhat confirmed.
“I take all threats against anyone in the U.K. very seriously and the reason I highlighted Israelis and the Jewish community is that we have been seeing threats and Iranian operational activity directed against them. I do not issue these warnings lightly,” he said.
Journalist Catherine Perez-Shakdam, previously pro-Iran, had close relations with senior Iranian officials until discovering her Jewish heritage, after which she became a vocal critic of the ayatollah regime.
In a conversation with Iran’s “Supreme Leader” Ali Khamenei, Perez-Shakdam said he told her that Iran seeks “to identify all the prominent NGOs run by Jews, who was doing what in each business sector, the important rabbis … They wanted to figure out their influence and where they lived with their families in order to target them.”
“They wanted to have a better understanding so they would know how to strike and where, so that if Israel ever dared to attack Iran, the diaspora would have a very nasty surprise,” Perez-Shakdam said during an interview with the Jewish Chronicle.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
