Thread by @ajnewsclub

🇮🇷#Iran - #Terrorism - Criminal Outsourcing - An unprecedented operation involving 15 international #intelligence agencies has exposed an #Iranian terror infrastructure that was planning a series of assassinations against #Israeli and #Western targets around the world. 1/22

It started in June, when #Colombia's Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia (#DNI) issued an imminent security alert after determining two Israeli businessmen were the targets of an #assassination attempt planned and financed by a high-ranking Iranian #Quds Force officer. 2

That officer, Rahmat Asadi, is regarded by Western intelligence organizations as a dangerous #terrorist.
The businessmen and their families had to quickly leave Bogotá under rigorous security measures. 3

Asadi, 40, previously was implicated in another foreign murder plot. He was arrested in Bangkok in 2014 and extradited to the UAE for taking part in the abduction and murder of Abbas Yazdanpanah, (aka Abbas Yazdi), a dual #UK-Iranian businessman who lived in #Dubai. 4

Asadi was quickly released in an October 2020 prisoner swap between the #UAE and #Iran. This came as news to Yazdanpanah's widow, Atena. She said to the source that "it was impossible for the UAE to have released Rahmat Asadi because there was a pending lawsuit against him." 5

She later said it was true that Asadi had been released and no one had told her. She declined further comment. 6

The Colombia investigation, w/ the reported help of 15 foreign intelligence agencies, led to the identification of a sophisticated #Quds Force infrastructure to carry out similar actions in #Azerbaijan, #US, #Bulgaria & #Africa by hiring professional hit men & drug cartels. 7

There are numerous precedents for such bold Iranian plotting. In 2011, #US. authorities
charged two #Iranian men with plotting to kill #Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States. 8

Manssor Arbabsiar pleaded guilty to 3 counts related to a murder-for-hire scheme & received a 25-year prison sentence. The scheme was led by the
#Quds Force, which conducts sensitive covert operations abroad, including #terrorist attacks, assassinations, & kidnappings. 9

#Iran has killed at least 21 dissidents throughout the world and has plotted dozens of attacks against Jewish, Israeli, Arab and Western targets, a 2020 U.S. Institute of Peace report claimed. 10

In 2019, the Dutch government accused #Iran of hiring criminal gangs to murder two Iranian dissidents in the #Netherlands, as the #EU imposed #sanctions on Tehran for a widespread campaign of assassination plots across Europe. 11

In the Yazdanpanah case, a decade before his abduction and murder by Asadi, Yazdanpanah was implicated in a 2003 fraud investigation led by #Norwegian authorities. The probe focused on a company called Statoil. 12

The corruption scandal, first uncovered by the Norwegian financial paper Dagens Næringsliv, involved $15.2 million in bribes routed through Yazdanpanah's company to Mehdi Rafsanjani, son of ex-Iranian Prez Akbar #Rafsanjani to secure a contract w/ the Iranian authorities. 13

Statoill paid a civil penalty. Yazdanpanah was never charged. A decade later, Yazdanpanah was a key witness in another oil corruption case involving Crescent Petroleum. 14

His abduction by #Iran on the eve of his video testimony to an arbitration court is an indication that Iran feared he could cost it billions in damages.
Yazdanpanah was abducted from his #Dubai office on the eve of the hearing & believed to be killed by Iran's #QF agents. 15

Dubai authorities identified Rahmat Asadi, who was extradited from #Thailand, and two other Iranians, as suspects. The three were tried and jailed for life. 16

Asadi, who traveled under the cover of a paintball player, was described in news reports as a highly dangerous and skilled #Quds Force operative with links to international #terrorist groups and organized crime gangs. 17

While serving his sentence in Dubai, Rahmat Asadi befriended two #Colombian gangsters who were imprisoned for jewelry theft.
The thieves were released in March. 18

A confidential report shown to El Tiempo, Colombia's highest circulation newspaper, reveals that Asadi trained and guided the Colombians in prison. Asadi also debeloped a special bond of friendship with them by making their jail term more comfortable. 19

Last April, Colombian intel noticed 2 #Israeli businessmen were being followed & monitored in what at first was thought to be a kidnap plot in return for ransom money. The plotters were Asadi's two Colombian prison mates, who hired a group of hitmen to murder the businessmen. 20

The two, identified only as Jimmy, & Andrés K, were arrested & all their communication devices were seized. They reportedly told investigators that Asadi had recruited them & paid them $20K in digital currencies upfront & promised them another $80K upon completing the attack. 21

Iran's #QF is one of 5 branches of #IRGC, specialized in unconventional warfare & military intelligence ops outside #Iran. Hiring professional hitmen & drug cartels to carry out terror attacks for Iran (criminal outsourcing) is the regime’s latest modus operandi. 22 END

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