The United States and many of its NATO allies are accusing Iran of a growing number of threats throughout Europe and North America and demanding that it end its attempts to harm dissidents and others.
“We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty,” the joint statement released on Thursday said.
“These services are increasingly collaborating with international criminal organizations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials in Europe and North America,” it said. “This is unacceptable.”
The joint statement was signed by NATO members Albania, Belgium, Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United States. The only non-NATO member to sign was Austria, headquarters of the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
The statement said that any such attacks would be considered “violations of our sovereignty” and the governments committed to working together to foil any plots while calling on Iran “to immediately put an end to such illegal activities in our respective territories.”
The statement did not identify any particular attack, although the U.S. and others have warned for many years of Iranian-sponsored plots on European and U.S. soil.
British intelligence officials have repeatedly warned of the growing scale of Tehran-backed plots in Britain. Three alleged Iranian spies currently face charges that they conducted surveillance on and plotted violence against U.K.-based journalists for an Iranian news outlet.
Earlier this month Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee said “Iran poses a wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat to the U.K.”
In early July, German prosecutors announced that a man suspected of gathering information on “Jewish locations and people in Berlin for Iranian intelligence, possibly with a view to attacks, had been arrested in Denmark. They didn’t elaborate.
Despite the ongoing threat, the Trump administration earlier this year rescinded government-funded protection for several former officials from President Trump’s first term.
That protection had been provided and repeatedly extended during the Biden administration due to threats from Iran against former national security adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Iran envoy Brian Hook and a number of military officers.
The warnings about Iranian plots around the world come just weeks after Israel and the U.S. bombed the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier this week that Tehran has no plans to resume nuclear talks with Washington.
“No specific arrangements have been made for negotiations yet. However, in any arena, including negotiations, should we decide to participate, our goal will be to defend the blood of the martyrs and the cause for which they were martyred,” he said.
Mr. Araghchi has said repeatedly that Iran will not resume talks with the U.S. unless it receives guarantees that Washington will not launch further strikes on its nuclear infrastructure and that Iran will be allowed to continue its uranium enrichment program.
Both guarantees have been nonstarters for U.S. leaders who say that a ban on Iranian enrichment is integral to preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful and for civilian purposes, despite warnings from watchdogs who say Tehran’s enrichment level is one step away from weapons-grade.
On Monday, President Trump reasserted his promise to launch further strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites if the Islamic republic restarted its enrichment program.
“We wiped out their nuclear possibilities. They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it,” he said.
Iranian mediators met with British, French and German leaders last week in Istanbul to discuss the future of enrichment in the country. While the talks did not result in a breakthrough, the two parties agreed to continue negotiations into August.