The Iranian regime should be held responsible for its terrorist activities

The Iranian regime should be held responsible for its terrorist activities

European officials foiled a terrorist attack on a major convention in Paris called "Free Iran", to which I was attended. An Iranian diplomat and several other people of Iranian origin were arrested on Monday in France, Belgium and Germany. This is the first time that an Iranian official has been arrested for such a blatant act related to the orchestration of a terrorist attack.

Why would Iran engage in such activity? Most likely, from the point of view of the Iranian regime, such a large-scale terrorist attack would have eliminated much of the opposition to the regime, if it had gone as planned. After all, the regime managed to maintain power after the 1988 fatwa of Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini "resulted in the mbadacre of 30,000 people who opposed it," according to his former deputy, Grand Ayatollah Hossein- Ali Montazeri

. dissidents and human rights defenders attended the Free Iran convention. Many European and American and Middle Eastern leaders were present, including Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York, John Baird, former Foreign Minister, and Ingrid Betancourt, former senator The American author and president of the Center for Equal Opportunities, Linda Chavez, and former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi di Sant Agata

Without a doubt , Iran will use its diplomatic skills and smiles to divert the attention of this heinous act. The Iranian technocrat minister of foreign affairs, Mohammed Javad Zarif, has already rejected the issue by declaring on Twitter : "As it is practical: as we undertake a presidential visit to Europe, a so-called Iranian operation and its "conspirators" arrested. Iran unequivocally condemns all violence and terror everywhere and is ready to work with all parties concerned to discover what is a grim sinister scheme. "

But it is also important to note that this terrorist plot should not be surprising.The Iranian regime is on the list of the main sponsors of terrorism, and its links with extremist and terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda are Well-established evidence, including a decision by the US Federal Court, concluded that "Iran provided material and direct support to the 9/11 terrorists." Eight of the pirates of the air crossed Iran before heading to the United States

ammunition to al-Qaeda rulers, harboring several in return for attacks on US interests.The Iranian regime continued to support Al Qaeda in Iraq and other countries in order to repel rival forces in Tehran.The existence of this alliance clearly explains why Al Qaeda has never attacked the country. Iran

The Iranian regime has also been sentenced to badbadinate the Saudi ambbadador to the United States with a bomb in a well-known restaurant in Washington in 2011.

Without a doubt, Iran will now use its very false diplomatic skills and smiles to distract attention from this heinous act

. Majid Rafizadeh

Many people were killed by the Iranian regime during terrorist attacks. Examples of such destructive behavior include the 1983 suicide bombing in Lebanon that killed 241 US military (220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers); the bombing of Khobar Towers in 1996; and the 2000 attack against the USS Cole, with the direct support and involvement of Hezbollah and al Qaeda.

The other issue to which one pays attention is related to the arrested Iranian diplomat, who resided in a foreign embbady and had been enjoying diplomatic immunity. His involvement in the foiled terrorist attack must be considered so serious that the Austrian Foreign Ministry issued an ultimatum to the Iranian regime and stressed: "The Iranian diplomat will be denied diplomatic status within 48 hours because of of the existence of a European arrest warrant "

The international community must know that the Iranian regime uses its embbadies and consulates abroad as cells to promote the extremism and support militias and proxies: for example, an Iranian ambbadador and 14 other diplomats were expelled. Last year, Kuwait had links with a spy and terror cell, and Iran's cultural and military missions were also ordered to shut down

highlighting the fact that that Iran does not respect international standards of diplomacy. governments to advance its revolutionary and hegemonic ambitions.

Finally, the foiled terrorist plot comes at a time when the Iranians regime is feeling significant pressure inside the country. Many Iranians protest – they are angry and frustrated by the regime for many reasons, including wasting billions of dollars on Bashar Assad, as well as terrorist groups and militias in the region. People chanted "Death to Hezbollah", "Leave Syria alone, think of us instead", "Death to Rouhani", "Shame on you Khamenei, resign from power", "Death to the dictator" and "Death to In conclusion, the Iranian regime has been involved in terrorist activities since its inception in 1979. It is time for the international community, especially the European Union, to join many Iranians and hold the regime accountable. his terrorist activities and his violations of human rights. The policies of appeasement with the Islamic Republic should be stopped.

• Mr. Majid Rafizadeh is an Iranian-American political scientist trained at Harvard. He is a prominent foreign policy specialist from Iran and the United States, a businessman and president of the American International Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Warning: The opinions expressed by the authors in this section are theirs and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Arab News