Paris, 7 August 2022
To: Mr. Josep Borrell Fontelles
High Representative of the European Union
for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Mr. High Representative,
There is little doubt that Iran backs this week’s Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket bombing of Israel. The PIJ is known to be Tehran’s proxy agents in Gaza and the West Bank, while Hezbollah is the one operating from Lebanon. For both terrorist organizations, the main objective is: the annihilation of Israel and the Jews.
The PIJ Secretary-General Ziad Nakhaleh is presently seeking operational and financial support from his puppet-masters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – the elite of Tehran’s armed forces and considered a terrorist organization by the US. The PIJ has received some 70 million US$ from Tehran this year, and has been promised more if the sanctions were lifted.
The replacement of Al Qaeda’s mastermind Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was “executed” this week, is Saif al-Adel, who was involved in numerous terrorist kidnappings, killings and bombings, from Daniel Pearl to 9/11. He has spent years in Tehran and is presently there under a form of “mutually convenient” soft house arrest, where Iran can dictate Al Qaeda’s priority targets.
Despite sanctions, Iran’s vibrant arms industry is presently supplying drones to Russia, including “loitering kamikaze” drones, that will be used to kill both Ukrainians and foreign volunteers.
Iran’s IRGC fast attack craft out of Qeshm naval base have attacked oil tankers and cargo vessels in the strategically crucial Hormuz Strait shipping lane, perpetrating what is dubbed “energy terrorism” and piracy.
Tehran is directly implicated in the Buenos Aires 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy (29 dead and 242 injured) and the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Centre (85 dead and over 300 wounded). Related Interpol “Red Notice” arrest warrants have been issued for 5 Iranians who are now main figures in the regime’s hierarchy.
The network of IRGC foreign intelligence “Quds Force” sleeper cells as well as Iran-controlled Hezbollah operatives pervade Latin American countries, from Venezuela to Argentina. Sleepers are present also in other countries of the Western hemisphere.
The Iranian regime detains European citizens as hostages, spuriously accused of “espionage” and withheld without due process. Bargaining chips for the lifting of sanctions?
Iran practices massive, gruesome and demonstrative death sentences – often by public hanging, firing squads or stoning. The “designated culprits” include minors and pregnant women. Among the most common “capital crimes” are homosexuality, apostasy and political dissidence...
Iran had transformed into a prison a former UNESCO school in Dezful, a town Iran has proposed for World Heritage Status. The “UNESCO prison” is reportedly used to detain, torture and execute minors.
For Reporters Without Frontiers (RSF), Iran’s “press freedom index” ranking has deteriorated to 178th out of 180 countries studied. The pseudo-theocratic regime regularly arrests journalists.
Iran’s current President, Ebrahim Raisi, is nicknamed “the Butcher of Tehran” for his three-decades reputation as Prosecutor, Attorney General and Chief Justice...
In June, as a gesture of hostility towards the IAEA nuclear proliferation watchdog, Iran disabled surveillance cameras meant to guarantee its bona fide in limiting the uranium enrichment process and renouncing the weaponization of nuclear energy.
In July, a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated that Iran is now “capable of making its first nuclear bomb, but still has to decide whether to build it.” Intimidation or blackmail?
Mr. High Representative, is the EU still trying to convince the US on reviving the JCPOA? The revival would bring billions to Iran. Much would be promptly routed to finance the regime’s genocidal network, be it the nuclear and ballistic missile programme, the support to its proxies PIJ, Hamas and Hezbollah, or furthering the international outreach of the IRGC.
According to multiple independent expert sources (CSIS, IISS Military Balance and IHS Jane’s), Iran possesses the largest and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East (including cruise missiles), to-date capable of reaching Israel and the Eastern Mediterranean. The JCPOA does not cover ballistic missiles.
Mr. High Representative, the situation reminds us of Neville Chamberlain’s 1938 statement following his discussion with Adolf Hitler: “... I return from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.”
Mr. High Representative, in this perspective, is the JCPOA another blind “Peace for our time” gamble, or the price to pay for more cheap gas and oil? In both cases, it looks like a lose-lose deal.
We urge Europe to come to its senses and remain wide awake. Iran is a latter-day Nazi regime and its targets – at home and abroad – are those who would not comply to its intransigent diktats. Its explicit threat looms indiscriminately in Europe and the West.
Our warning, “J’Accuse,” would be too late.
Most respectfully,
Dr. Shimon Samuels
Director for International Relations
Simon Wiesenthal Centre