The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Friday said that Mexican security services prevented a criminal network from carrying out an Iran-directed attack against the Israeli ambassador to Mexico,.
In a press release, Israel officially thanked Mexico for its role in dismantling the terrorist network.
U.S. and Israeli officials allege that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) planned to assassinate Ambassador Einat Kranz-Neiger this summer. The media outlet Axios reported that the assassination would have been planned since late last year. It also said the operation was purportedly led by a unit of the IRGC that has been recruiting agents throughout Latin America for years, primarily from the Iranian Embassy in Venezuela.
No details explaining how the plot was foiled were made public, nor were specifics about the Mexican operation provided. The Mexican government itself has yet to issue a statement although the press office at Mexico’s Security Ministry told the magazine Proceso that “we are unaware of this information.”
“The plot was contained and does not pose a current threat,” an unidentified U.S. official told the news agency Reuters. “This is just the latest in a long history of Iran’s global lethal targeting of diplomats, journalists, dissidents and anyone who disagrees with them, something that should deeply worry every country where there is an Iranian presence.”
Iranian officials have rejected the allegations, saying they are politically motivated. Iran’s mission to the U.N. in New York declined to comment.
U.S. officials point to the alleged plot as further evidence that Iran has an extensive overseas network, including in Latin America, that is continually plotting against U.S. and Israeli targets.
In its statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that its security and intelligence agents “will continue to work tirelessly” in cooperation with other agencies around the world “to thwart terrorist threats from Iran and its allies against Israeli and Jewish targets.”
Reuters reported that security services in Britain and Sweden warned last year that Tehran is “using criminal proxies to carry out violent attacks … with London saying it had disrupted 20 Iran-linked plots since 2022.”
Several other countries have described an uptick in assassination, kidnapping and harassment plots by Iranian intelligence services, according to Reuters.
Ambassador Kranz-Neiger made headlines last month by accusing Mexican authorities of staging a propaganda stunt related to the six Mexicans detained while taking part in a flotilla attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
With reports from Axios, El Financiero, Infobae and Reuters
