A British newspaper is reporting that French authorities thwarted an Iran terror attack, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The Independent in Arabic newspaper reported that an Iranian intelligence official transferred a half ton of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) explosives on a civilian airplane that flew from Tehran to Austria in June 2018. The explosives were then transferred to an Iranian Belgian couple to take to Paris in their car; French authorities arrested the couple on their way to Paris.
The report states that “Iran frequently uses civilian aircraft and civilian airlines to transport explosives, weapons and ballistic missiles, as well as funds to Hezbollah in Lebanon and elsewhere in the world,” per the Post, constituting a violation of international aviation treaties.
President Donald Trump announced new sanctions on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his office on June 24, highlighting the Iranian regime’s increasing belligerence in the region and against the United States.
“The supreme leader of Iran is one who ultimately is responsible of the hostile conduct of the regime,” Trump told reporters. “He’s respected within his country. His office oversees the regime’s most brutal instruments including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
Iran funds myriad Islamic terror organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Iran has also had reported dealings with al-Qaeda in the past. Hezbollah, Iran’s Shia proxy, reportedly plotted a terror attack in Britain in 2015 that was ultimately thwarted.
