Iranians gather beside a billboard depicting Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as they attend the funerals of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders.
ATTA KENARE / AFP
A classified dossier identifies Mohammad Naghizadeh, Iran’s military attaché in Poland, as an active IRGC member.
Officers from the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are working across the European Union under diplomatic cover.
That is according to a classified dossier seen by reporters at Euractiv. The news makes a mockery of Brussels’ January designation of the group as a terrorist organisation, which followed a deadly crackdown on mass protests orchestrated by Tehran. Even Commission President Ursula von der Leyen admitted at the time that the move was “long overdue.”
The dossier identifies Mohammad Naghizadeh, Iran’s military attaché in Poland, as an active IRGC member. If he is able to advance the group’s interests—both financial and operational—in Warsaw, it is highly likely that others are doing the same in other capitals across Europe.
German MEP Hannah Neumann (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) on Wednesday warned that despite the IRGC’s designation as a terror group, “its networks are still up and running in some member states,” adding:
We need to completely drain the IRGC’s money, influence and reach inside Europe.
#IRGC is on the EU terror list. Yet, its networks are still up and running in some member states. We need to completely drain the IRGC's money, influence and reach inside #Europe. Asking @kajakallas about the next steps in @Europarl_EN plenary. pic.twitter.com/3W96tPfrur
Belgian Vlaams Belang MP Sam van Rooy also on Thursday drew attention to “jihadist attacks in Belgium” orchestrated by the IRGC and said he is planning to “grill the lax government about this.”
News of the dossier follows warnings from Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, about the likelihood of Iran expanding its covert operations across Europe once fighting with the U.S. and Israel subsides.
Officials are especially concerned about the prospect of increased attacks on Jewish targets, Israeli institutions, and opponents of the Tehran regime.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
