Members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran told Fox News Digital exclusively about how far the current regime in Tehran will go to try to kill them, even on American soil. “Since the start of the uprisings in Iran in 2017, Tehran has been intensifying its terrorist plots abroad, particularly against our movement due to its increasing appeal to the protesters,” said Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the US Office of the National Counsel. . of the Resistance of Iran (NCRI). “Tehran saw the MEK as an engine of change in Iran and found the NCRI network abroad as key to building pressure against the regime.” The Justice Department on August 10 announced charges against Iranian agent Shahram Poursafi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in an alleged plot to assassinate John Bolton, who served as former President Trump’s national security adviser until 2019. News details also showed it allegedly targeted former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. IRAN OFFICIALS TO DEMAND PENALTIES WE MUST GET OUT OF NUCLEAR DEAL AGAIN: REPORT Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani attends Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s meeting with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Tehran, Iran, September 18, 2016. (Pool/Press Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) US officials said the plot was likely planned in retaliation for the January 2020 strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force, but members of the NCRI and the People’s Mujahideen Organization (MEK ) told Fox News Digital about attempts on their lives going back years. Jafarzadeh found out he was a prime target of the regime after he saw media reports of a criminal complaint and affidavit about the attempted assassination of Trump and Bolton and saw his name among potential targets in the affidavit. “I was already alert about possible terrorist threats from the Iranian regime because, just a month before, an Iranian regime diplomat carrying bombs had been arrested, and we knew that Tehran usually does not go after just one target, so that was to be expected. that he would plan terrorist operations in the United States as well,” he explained. People demonstrate holding photos of Maryam Rajavi, leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, during the trial of four people, including an Iranian diplomat and a Belgian-Iranian couple, in court in Antwerp, Belgium, February 4, 2021. ( AP Photo/ Virginia Mayo) He pointed to three failed attempts in 2018 alone to try to hit MEK targets, including an attempted bombing of MEK headquarters in Albania and an attempt in July of that year to hit a rally in Paris, after which French authorities arrested an Iranian diplomat. Iran’s reach extends to agents operating covertly in the US who maintain “a benign cover” to hide their connection to Tehran, according to Jafarzadeh. He claimed that there are many agents of the Iranian regime using an Iranian-American cover or operating in think tanks or academic institutions. IRANIAN JOURNALIST TO BIDEN: “DON’T BURY HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER YOUR AGREEMENT” Ali Safavi, a member of the Paris-based NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee, argues that efforts against anti-regime groups validate them as it shows that the regime sees them as “existential threats.” “The misguided policy of appeasing medieval theocracy and turning a blind eye to the mullahs’ abhorrent behavior at home and abroad has created a culture of impunity that has only encouraged them to spread their terrorism beyond Iran’s borders,” he said. Safavi at Fox News Digital. He also found out he was a target when the affidavit against Iranian agents was released. “I had seen one of the [the assassins], the waiter in Orange County,” he revealed. “The restaurant he worked at was a popular outfit and frequented by all Iranians. I was in town in 2015 and went to the restaurant a few times. And, on both occasions, he was our waiter and was quite attentive to us. Little did we know that he was actually trying to eavesdrop on what we were talking about.” The would-be assassin also asked for a photo with Safavi when the two fell out at a demonstration outside the United Nations headquarters in New York in 2017. IRAN-BACKED NEWSPAPER THREATS TO KILL TRUMP, POMPEO AFTER SALMAN RUSTI STABBING Both men believe the revelation of repeated and ongoing efforts against former US officials and Iranian dissidents should prove enough for the Biden administration to end negotiations on a nuclear deal and potentially free up millions in much-needed funds for an economically starved nation. which continues to finance terrorist proxy groups in neighboring countries. “A leopard never changes spots,” Safavi said. “According to the Democratic Party’s political platform, human rights must be front and center in any policy against the Iranian regime. The only viable and effective policy to address Tehran’s brutality at home and the spread of terrorism in foreign policy is to toughen and expand sanctions to deny the regime the resources it sustains through the machinery of repression and war.” Iran’s president-elect Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a press conference in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo) Critics also used the revelation of assassination attempts against US officials to argue that the Biden administration should deny President Ibrahim Raisi a visa to attend the UN General Assembly in September. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “The Biden administration has publicly acknowledged that the regime in Tehran is actively planning to kill Americans,” Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former National Security Council official, told Fox News Digital. “How can they issue visas to those responsible for the project? It would be perfectly consistent with US law and treaty obligations to deny Raisi and his delegation visas on national security grounds.” Brooke Singman of Fox News contributed to this report. Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news.
