14 Western governments condemn Iranian assassination, kidnapping attempts worldwide

Fourteen Western governments, including the United States, issued a joint condemnation of Iran on Thursday over a rise in Iran-backed assassination and kidnapping plots worldwide.

“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 Western governments announced in a joint statement. Other nations that joined in condemning the Iranian regime included the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Canada, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Albania.

The countries emphasized that Tehran’s international assassination and kidnapping plots were frequently carried out in coordination with global criminal organizations.

The Iranian regime’s top targets include Jews, Israelis and Iranian dissidents who oppose the ayatollah regime.

In May, British authorities arrested four Iranian nationals and one individual of unspecified nationality for “terrorism offenses.”

"We are exploring various lines of enquiry to establish any potential motivation as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public linked to this matter," British Counterterrorism Commander Dominic Murphy announced at the time. It was later reported that the Israeli embassy in London was the target of the Iranian terrorist plot.

The suspects were reportedly arrested just hours before they planned to attack the Israeli embassy. The ayatollah regime denied any involvement in the plot targeting the Jewish state’s embassy in the UK.

British authorities have reportedly prevented over 20 Tehran-linked plans to murder or kidnap individuals in the UK since 2022.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, Israeli and international security agencies have increasingly sounded the alarm over Iran’s use of criminal networks to carry out attacks against Jews and Israeli nationals abroad.

In September 2024, Israel’s Foreign Ministry revealed that Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence agency had foiled at least 50 Iran-backed terror plots targeting Jews and Israelis globally since Oct. 7

In October 2024, a European intelligence report confirmed that the Iranian regime had been employing criminal gangs to target Jews and Israeli nationals residing in Europe.

A month later, in November 2024, Israeli intelligence disclosed that Iran had been cooperating with transnational criminal networks, including Sweden-based Foxtrot, to expand its operations across Europe.

The Swedish Security Service (Säpo) also reported that Iran has been targeting critics of the regime in Sweden and other European countries.

“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 stated. “To carry out these security-threatening activities, the Iranian regime has on occasion made use of criminal networks.”

In March 2025, the United States announced sanctions against Foxtrot as part of its “renewed maximum pressure campaign” on Iran.