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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Assadollah <keyword id="4712572" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="assadi">Assadi</keyword>, an Iranian diplomat, has been convicted of plotting to bomb a meeting of Iranian dissidents. </li><li>The July 2018 meeting was attended by figures including <keyword id="324847" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rudy-Giuliani">Rudy Giuliani</keyword>. </li><li>Assadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday.</li></ul>Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi has been convicted of plotting to bomb the rally of an exiled Iranian dissident group near Paris that was attended by Rudy GiulianiAssadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison having been found guilty by a court in Antwerp, Belgium, of the plot to bomb the June 2018 meeting of the National Council of Resistance of <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword> (NCRI), <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iranian-diplomat-convicted-of-planning-bomb-attack-against-exiled-opposition-group-in-france-given-20-year-sentence/2021/02/04/36527336-66cf-11eb-bab8-707f8769d785_story.html">reported the Associated Press</a>.The plan was foiled by French, German and Belgian police. According to Belgian prosecution documents obtained by Reuters, Assadi transported explosives to be used in the attack with him on a commercial flight from Iran to Austria, where he was stationed in Vienna.He is the first Iranian official found <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iranian-terror-cells-ready-to-strike-uk-in-the-event-of-war-2019-7">guilty of terrorism in the European Union since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. </a>Three co-defendants of Assadi were also convicted on Thursday, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210204-iran-diplomat-given-20-years-for-paris-bomb-plot">reported AFP. </a>The conviction comes at a delicate time for US-Iranian relations, with President <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-taps-ex-obama-advisor-rob-malley-as-iran-envoy-2021-1">Joe Biden reportedly seeking to reset relations</a>. Former President Donald Trump imposed severe sanctions on Iran during his time in office. The meeting of the NCRI in the town of Villepinte outside Paris <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-diplomat-covnicted-bomb-plot-2018-paris-giuliani-2021-2">was attended by high-profile supporters</a> of the group, including Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney.At the meeting, Giuliani delivered the keynote speech. Iran has rejected claims that Assadi was acting on official orders, calling the operation a "false flag" by the NCRI, which it classifies as a terror group. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gary-peters-michigan-senate-purchase-energy-stock-environment-power-coal-2021-2">Gary Peters hates global warming. But the Democratic senator just invested in a coal-fired power company.</a><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/belgium-iranian-diplomat-convicted-over-2018-bomb-plot-in-france/a-56448587">Deutsche Welle</a> reported that Assadi had refused to appear in court to answer to the charges. The NCRI <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-pompeo-mek-allegedly-2019-9">is the political wing of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK)</a>, a controversial movement once listed as a terror organization by the US and likened by critics to a cult. Trump officials had brokered ties with the movement as the administration ramped up pressure on Tehran following the US exit from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018.

Iranian diplomat sentenced to 20 years for plotting to bomb a rally in Paris attended by Rudy Giuliani

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A Belgian court sentenced an Iranian diplomat to 20 years in prison over a foiled bomb plot in 2018.</li><li>Assadollah Assadi is the first Iranian official to be convicted and jailed in Europe since 1979.</li><li>Intel officers tell Insider they are bracing for attacks and kidnappings of Europeans around the world.</li></ul>Intelligence officials in Europe are expecting revenge attacks from <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword> following the conviction and sentencing of one of its diplomats on Thursday, sources told Insider.A court in Antwerp, <keyword id="6367522" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="belgium">Belgium</keyword>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-diplomat-covnicted-bomb-plot-2018-paris-giuliani-2021-2">sentenced the Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi</a> to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of a plot to bomb the June 2018 meeting of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exiled dissident group, in Paris.Assadi and his three Iranian co-defendants, some of whom hold dual citizenships in Europe, were convicted after a Europe-wide investigation caught them transporting explosives to target the 2018 rally. The plot was ultimately foiled by French, German and Belgian police. Though the Islamic Republic had been accused of numerous violent operations in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s, Assadi - whom European intelligence sources have described as an intelligence operative under diplomatic cover - is the <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210204-in-first-for-europe-belgium-jails-iranian-diplomat-over-paris-bomb-plot">first</a> Iranian diplomat to be convicted and jailed in Europe since 1979."Assadi is a Quds Force guy," said a Belgian military intelligence officer who works under diplomatic cover in the Middle East, referring to the external-operations branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.All the sources interviewed for this article cannot be named due to the sensitive nature of their work, but their identity is known to Insider."We have collected explicit intelligence that he was responsible for European operations targeting Iranian dissidents around Europe using his diplomatic post in Vienna as a base of operations," said the official, adding that this was why prosecutors did not consider diplomatic immunity for Assadi."But our certainty about his role also very much confirms the Iranians will see this as far beyond a normal law-enforcement operation, they will see it as an operation against them and could very well respond quite aggressively, as Assadi threatened us."In March, Assadi had <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/iran-plot-verdict-int/iranian-diplomat-given-maximum-20-year-sentence-for-terrorism-in-belgium-idUSKBN2A418N">reportedly warned</a> Belgian police that his official role as an Iranian operative meant that Belgian or European targets could be hit or pressured to force his release should he be convicted - a threat Belgian intelligence concluded is credible.The Belgian official told Insider that security around key sites in Europe and abroad would be examined, and in some cases likely increased, in the wake of the Thursday sentencing.Belgians citizens living and working in Lebanon, Iraq, and parts of the Gulf would also be warned about possible security threats, the official added."Our counterparts across Europe are doing the same," they said.<div type="image" title="iran Assadollah Assadi sentencing" height="774" width="1200" msid="80691536" hostid="261"></div>Intelligence officers are also bracing for increased kidnappings of foreign nationals by Iran in the near future."Of course they can retaliate, and [the Iranians] have a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-western-hostages-leverage-future-deals-2020-11">long history of targeting specific passport holders</a> for kidnapping or arrest to later trade," the Belgian officer told Insider."Iran has done this in the Gulf, Iraq and Lebanon, as well as inside Iran itself, in the past, so the threat, the capability and the willingness to act are all consistent.""The Iranians never bluff about things like this," added a retired Israeli intelligence official who remains a consultant for his government. "They had people under arrest in Kuwait in the 80s, and they and Hezbollah kept kidnapping and hijacking people until they were finally released during the first Gulf War," the Israeli told Insider, referring to the kidnapping of dozens of foreign hostages in Lebanon <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/lebanon-hostage-crisis">between 1984 and 1992</a>."It's even easier to detain someone inside Iran to use as leverage," the source added. "They do this regularly."Before Assadi's sentencing, Iran had been demanding an exchange for a Swedish-Iranian scientist, a dual national, who was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-55231310">arrested in Tehran</a> and sentenced to death for espionage.One European intelligence source told Insider that Iran was clearly trying to leverage European countries against each other.Multiple sources interviewed by Insider have raised concerns that Djalali could be executed at any moment in response to the sentencing."It's a classic technique of playing allies off against each other," said the European official. "They can't get a Belgian but they have [a] Swede, so they threaten to kill the Swede so that Sweden pressures Belgium to do a swap.""It's both transparent and effective."

Intelligence officials fear revenge attacks from Iran after its diplomat was sentenced for trying to blow up a Paris rally

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An Iranian diplomat and three others have gone on trial in <keyword id="6367522" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="belgium">Belgium</keyword> accused of planning a terrorist attack on a rally where <keyword id="324847" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rudy-Giuliani">Rudy Giuliani</keyword>, President Trump's lawyer, was the keynote speaker.</li><li><keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword>'s Assadollah Assadi was not in the dock having claimed diplomatic immunity. </li><li>Maryam Rajavi, leader of the MEK, an exiled Iranian opposition group, was the main target of the attack.</li><li>If the powerful bomb had exploded, it could have caused carnage in a packed crowd of 25,000.</li><li>Other prominent public figures who attended, included Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the US House of Representatives.</li></ul>An Iranian diplomat has gone on trial in Belgium for his part in a planned terrorist attack on a rally where Rudy Giuliani was the keynote speaker.Assadollah Assadi, 48, a diplomat formerly based in Vienna, faces life in prison if convicted.The target of the attack, according to prosecutors, was a rally held in Villepinte, France, on June 30, 2018, organized by the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), a political arm of the People's Mojahedin of Iran or Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK).The group is considered a terrorist organization and an arch-enemy by Iran. Maryam Rajavi, leader of the MEK, was the main target of the attack, the court heard.In the last-minute, <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> police operation, a Belgian couple of Iranian origin was stopped in a Brussels' suburb, on the day of the rally. They claimed to be on a driving holiday, said <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-paris-trials-antwerp-france-468475da611c76267a499b0c19c6c990">AP. </a>But Amir Saadouni and Nasimeh Naami, had met Assadi, an Iranian diplomat serving as a third counselor at the country's embassy in Vienna, Austria, at a Pizza Hut, the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55086147">BBC</a> added. Following Mossad's tip-off, the Israeli intelligence agency, a Belgian plainclothes officer, observed Assadi handing them a package that contained a powerful explosive, reported <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/world/europe/iran-dissidents-bomb-assadi-belgium.html">the New York Times</a>.The pair denied knowing that they were handed a bomb. Naami said she thought it contained fireworks, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-diplomat-trial-plot-bomb-opponents-france-74394308">ABC News</a> reported.The Belgian bomb disposal unit said that they found 550 grams of ready to use triacetone triperoxide (TATP) "wrapped in plastic and concealed in the lining of a vanity case" in the couple's Mercedes, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/iran-diplomat-on-trial-over-plot-to-bomb-opponents-in-france/2020/11/25/1aa7f73c-2f1b-11eb-9dd6-2d0179981719_story.html">The Washington Post</a>.They also found a digital remote trigger in a small bag belonging to Naami containing feminine hygiene items and a red notebook in Assadi's car with instructions for using the bomb, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-diplomat-trial-plot-bomb-opponents-france-74394308">ABC News</a> added.If the powerful bomb had exploded, it could have hit the crowd of 25,000 and other prominent public figures, including Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the US House of Representatives, and several MPs from the UK.TATP was used when suicide bombers killed 32 people in an attack on the Brussels subway and airport in 2016.<div type="image" title="GettyImages 988296602" height="2169" width="2892" msid="79464125" hostid="261"></div>Assadi has also been accused of paying the couple $14,000 and was arrested while traveling through Germany on July 1, 2018, where he had no immunity from prosecution, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20201127-belgium-tries-iranian-diplomat-over-bomb-plot">France24</a> reported.Belgium's State Security Service (VSSE) believes he worked for Iran's Department 312, pf the directorate for internal security, which is on the EU's list of terrorist organizations, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/world/europe/iran-dissidents-bomb-assadi-belgium.html">The New York Times</a>.He allegedly recruited the couple to obtain information about the Iranian opposition and worked with a fourth suspect, Mehrdad Arefani, an Iranian poet and resident of Brussels, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-paris-trials-antwerp-france-468475da611c76267a499b0c19c6c990">AP</a>.Text messages and emails between the four suspects revealed that they used code to communicate and referred to the explosive device as the 'PlayStation 4,' <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/iran-diplomat-on-trial-over-plot-to-bomb-opponents-in-france/2020/11/25/1aa7f73c-2f1b-11eb-9dd6-2d0179981719_story.html">The Washington Post</a> reported.They have all been charged with attempting to carry out a terrorist attack and terrorist group activity and could face life in prison. The trial began yesterday, with the verdict expected to be delivered by early next year. Assadi was not in the dock, having claimed diplomatic immunity. Iran has denied being behind the alleged thwarted attack, according to France 24.The MEK leader Rajavi has said that Assadi received his orders from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but did not provide any evidence, according to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-paris-trials-antwerp-france-468475da611c76267a499b0c19c6c990">AP</a>.MEK was on the US and EU <keyword id="6358165" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="terrorism">terrorism</keyword> lists until 2012. After denouncing violence, it recruited western politicians to lobby on its behalf, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-paris-trials-antwerp-france-468475da611c76267a499b0c19c6c990">AP</a> reported. It supports Donald Trump's US sanctions against it, gaining powerful allies such as Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's lawyer, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55086147">BBC</a>.

Iranian diplomat on trial over plan to bomb a rally where Rudy Giuliani was the keynote speaker but Mossad tipped off the police

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Iranian diplomat sentenced to 20 years for plotting to bomb a rally in Paris attended by Rudy Giuliani

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Iranian diplomat on trial over plan to bomb a rally where Rudy Giuliani was the keynote speaker but Mossad tipped off the police

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