Iranian Envoy Calls Europe A 'Safe Haven' for Terrorists

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iran's Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad complained that Europe has turned into a “safe haven” for all the terror outfits, including the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO or MEK) terror group, that are pursuing Iran’s “disintegration”.

News ID: 74878

Date: 10 January 2019 - 16:03

“Unfortunately, European countries have become a safe haven and a shelter not only for the MKO, but also for representatives of new terrorist and separatist groups that are openly pursuing Iran’s disintegration,” Baeidinejad said in a message posted on his Twitter account late on Wednesday.

The remarks came in response to the European Union’s recent move to blacklist two Iranians and a department of the Intelligence Ministry over what it calls links to “foiled attacks” in Europe.

Such outfits, he added, have been given an opportunity to freely hatch plots for terror attacks inside Iran and splitting the Islamic Republic, stressing that the Iranian nation does not consider such a policy as “a manifestation of political freedom.”

On Wednesday, the European Council added two Iranians and the Directorate for Internal Security of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry to the EU’s “terrorist list” and froze their funds and other financial assets.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif slammed the EU sanctions and said they would “not absolve Europe of responsibility for harboring terrorists.”

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi also called the EU’s blacklist decision “irrational” and “odd” and said the move showed the European countries’ “dishonesty” in fighting terror.

The European Council press release came one day after Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said that the EU had agreed to enact sanctions against "an Iranian Intelligence Service for its assassination plots on European soil."

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