Israel’s Mossad spy agency foiled an Iranian attempt to assassinate an American general stationed in Germany, Hebrew-language media reported Saturday.
Hebrew media cited several Israeli officials who confirmed an earlier reports by the London-based Iran International, an Iranian opposition news outlet, which said that alongside the unnamed general, an Israeli diplomat working in Turkey and a journalist in France were also targeted in the recent plot.
The man suspected of being behind the planned assassination was Mansour Rassouli, a member of Unit 840 of the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which is in charge of overseas operations. He was arrested in Europe and interrogated by the Mossad.
In a recording obtained by the press, Rassouli is heard expressing regret over the assassination plot: “I made a mistake. From now on I will not make any further moves in matters like this, I swear on my mother’s life, my daughter’s life, my family’s life. It was a mistake on my part, I will never repeat this mistake with God’s help.”
Although a specific date was not mentioned, the plot is believed to have been planned while the U.S. was mulling surrendering to the Iranian demand to delist the Revolutionary Guards from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Israel has been outspoken that doing so would be catastrophic, with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett labeling the IRGC in the past week as “the largest terrorist organization in the world.”
Talks to revive the tattered nuclear deal in Vienna have been at an impasse for seven weeks. The U.S. last week warned that Iran is only weeks from a nuclear “breakout,” and that the Trump administration, which withdrew from the deal in 2018, is to blame.
The planned hits were in apparent retaliation for the assassination of Iran’s nuclear weapons mastermind Mohsen Fakhrizadeh who was killed by Israel’s Mossad in 2020.
The assassin, who was also involved in drug-smuggling, told investigators he had received $150,000 in advance of the assassinations, and would receive a further $1 million if he killed the three targets.
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