Iran uses criminals to attack Israelis and Jews, European report reveals

A European investigation has revealed the Iranian regime’s widespread use of criminals and drug dealers to attack Jews and Israelis in Europe.

The report is based on an investigation managed by Mediapart, an independent French investigative online news outlet, which gathered and compiled documents from several European intelligence agencies.

The material was then analyzed by the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) and journalists from Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Denmark and Belgium. The international collaborative project also included the journalist Daniel Dolev, who works for the Israeli investigative news outlet Shomrim.

According to the report, one case involved Roey, an Israeli national who resides and works in France. In late 2023, French security officials informed Roey that an Iranian-led terror cell intended to kill him. French authorities indicated that they had received the vital information from “a foreign intelligence service.”

It was later revealed in a German media report that Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence agency had alerted its French counterparts. While Mossad refrained from confirming this report, it affirmed that “intelligence agencies are constantly engaged in dialogue and cooperation to deal with threats.”

The report stated that Roey continued to receive new warnings from French authorities, which even suggested that he depart France because of the threats to his life. He and his wife subsequently decided to spend much of their time in Israel. While they were in France, they changed their homes six times.

French authorities eventually arrested a local Iranian-employed cell that had plans to murder Roey and three other Israelis in France. In addition, the terror cell allegedly intended to kill three senior officials of a Jewish community in neighboring Germany.

The European report revealed that to ensure plausible deniability, the ayatollah regime refrained from having direct contact with its various criminal cells.

While the Iranian regime has stepped up its attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Europe since the Oct. 7 invasion and massacre in southern Israel, the report noted that Tehran has carefully cultivated ties with the European criminal underworld for at least a decade.

In May, Israeli intelligence revealed that the Iranian regime employs European-based criminals to perpetrate terror attacks on European soil.

“Iran operates many criminal organizations in Sweden and Europe, in general, while taking advantage of the relative advantage of each and sometimes the rivalry between them,” Israeli intelligence stated.

The report noted Iran’s preference for using European-based criminal organizations headed by individuals of Middle Eastern descent. One such criminal organization is FOXTROT, a Swedish-based crime network, which is led by Rawa Majid, an elusive Iranian-born Kurdish criminal who is known as the “Kurdish Fox.”

The Swedish security service Säpo reported that the regime has also employed criminal gangs to attack Iranian dissidents throughout Europe.

“Iran has previously used violence in other countries in Europe with the aim of silencing critical voices and perceived threats to its own regime,” Säpo assessed. “To carry out these security-threatening activities, the Iranian regime has on occasion made use of criminal networks,” it added.

Yoram Schweitzer who heads the research program, "Terrorism and Low-Intensity Conflict" at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) stated: “When it comes to exiled opposition figures, the Iranians have been running amok – unhindered and for years.”

He further noted that Iran has been targeting Israelis overseas.

“When it comes to Israelis, there are periods when there is more intense activity. We are currently in just such a period and have been for several years.”

A former Mossad agent told Shomrim that Iran and its primary terror proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, are partially funding their terrorism through narcotics trafficking and connections with international drug gangs.

“Our surveillance of the drug-smuggling trade as Hezbollah’s key economic lifeline reveals that the group is connected to all the [criminal] organizations, whether it’s in the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden or Sri Lanka. There, they are on the same field as the big players,” the former Mossad agent stated.

Iran International, a Persian and English news outlet that opposes the ayatollah regime, reported on Friday that the regime had ordered criminal gangs to carry out the recent attacks on the Israeli embassies in Sweden and Denmark.