The Israeli government said on Sunday it had identified a senior Iranian official as the mastermind behind failed attack plots in Europe and Australia.
In a joint statement, Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the individual was a high-ranking representative of Iran.
According to Israel, Tehran has intensified efforts to target Israeli and Jewish sites worldwide since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The statement said that attempted attacks in Germany, Greece and Australia had been thwarted this year and last year with Mossad’s assistance.
The man allegedly responsible was named as Sardar Amar, described as a senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“Under Amar’s command, a significant mechanism was established to promote attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets both in Israel and abroad,” the statement said.
“This mechanism is directly responsible for the attempted attacks exposed in Greece, Australia and Germany in the past year alone, and its numerous failures led to the wave of arrests and its exposure.”
In June, German prosecutors revealed that a Danish national in Berlin was suspected of spying on Jewish individuals and institutions, as well as sites linked to Israel, on behalf of Iranian intelligence. The 53-year-old man, of Afghan origin, was later arrested in Aarhus, Denmark. Prosecutors said the surveillance may have been intended to prepare for attacks.
Iran at the time rejected the espionage allegations as “unfounded and dangerous.” The Iranian embassy in Berlin said the claims were part of a campaign to distract from Israel’s war with Iran in June.