U.K. Terrorism Official: There’s A ‘Real Acceleration’ By Iran To Assassinate Enemies On Foreign Soil

 The Islamic Republic of Iran is reportedly increasing efforts to assassinate its enemies on foreign soil while it continues to escalate terrorist attacks against Israel and U.S. forces stationed in the Middle East.

A CBS News “60 Minutes” segment that aired this week reported numerous former Trump administration officials have 24/7 security from federal law enforcement officials because the threats are serious.

Iran reportedly hired a hitman to kidnap or kill former national security adviser John Bolton, who now lives with Secret Service posted outside his home after the administration killed Qasem Soleimani, arguably the top military official in Iran who was responsible for a large portion of the terrorism in the region and around the world.

Iran typically tries to hire hitmen who are already a part of criminal enterprises to carry out their assassination plots on foreign soil.

In the U.S., Iran reportedly hired a private investigator to follow dissident activist Masih Alinejad around, take photographs of her, and document her whereabouts. They initially planned to kidnap her but, when the plot failed, they paid a man $30,000 to attempt to murder her at her home in Brooklyn.

Matt Jukes, head of Counter Terrorism Policing in Britain, said that Iran uses proxies to carry out assassination attempts because they are typically “not being tracked by intelligence or security agencies.”

He said that in the U.K. they have foiled 15 Iranian kidnapping and assassination attempts in the last year.

 

“I have been involved in national security policing for over 20 years,” he said. “What we’ve seen in the last 18 months is a real acceleration.”