According to French Authorities, Iranian agents sought to carry out a bombing attack at a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exiled Iranian opposition group that is based in the French capital. The rally, which was held in June, was attended – among others – by high profile politicians, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and several former European and Arab ministers. European Intelligence sources told TV7 that Saied Hashemi Moghadam – the general director of Iran’s intelligence who also serves as a deputy minister – was the one who ordered the attack, which was thwarted in a coordinated cross-European-operation. French Authorities had warned the Islamic Republic to expect a robust response, declaring in a statement that: “An incident of such gravity on (France’s) national territory could not go unpunished.” As part of its initial measures against the Islamic Republic, French Authorities seized assets belonging to Iran’s intelligence services and two Iranian nationals, while the Foreign Ministry in Paris has restricted French diplomats from traveling to Iran. While the Iranian Foreign Ministry did not respond to TV7’s request for comment, relations between Paris and Tehran have taken a “nose-dive”. That said, France continues to maintain that the nuclear agreement with Iran must be preserved, as was reaffirmed by France’s Defense Minister Florence Parly, during a joint press conference with her visiting American counterpart James Mattis. According to Parly, “The JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal) is not a perfect accord, but it’s an accord that deserves to exist to suspend the proliferation of nuclear weapons, which, if this accord were to be denounced, would certainly and rapidly pick up.” The French top defense official emphasized, however, that Paris does view Iran’s ballistic activity as a threat that must be addressed, saying that “”We believe, just like (United States) President (Donald) Trump, that Iran’s ballistic activity is a threat. We believe, just like President Trump, that Iran’s influence in the entirety of the region is a subject of major preoccupation. And so, we think that these topics should be the focus of discussions with Iran, but this should be done without questioning yet again Iran’s compliance with the treaty and the Vienna accord.”
