Revolutionary Guard ‘assassinated in Tehran’ over Germany terror plot

Israel was reportedly behind the killing of the Revolutionary Guard who was plotting a terror attack on Israeli and Jewish targets in Germany.

People walk in front of the Fatima Masumeh Shrine in the holy Iranian city of Qom, south of Tehran. Picture: AFP.

A senior member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard planning terror attacks in Germany has been reportedly assassinated in Tehran.

The official, who was shot dead in Iran’s capital, was involved in “plotting a terrorist attack against Israeli and Jewish targets on German soil”, the anti-regime broadcaster Iran International and Israeli media report. Iran International reported that Israel was behind the attack.

Neither Israel nor Iran have commented on the assassination but if Israel was behind the strike, an assassination in the heart of Iran’s capital will further escalate the simmering shadow war between the two countries.

The alleged attack comes as agencies warn of a resurgence in terror plots across Europe.

Last November, a Dusseldorf court convicted a German-Iranian dual national for an attempted arson attack near a synagogue on the orders of Tehran.

The man, named as Babak J. was instructed by an intermediary “acting on behalf of unknown Iranian state agencies” in November 2022 to carry out an arson attack on a synagogue in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia, the court was told.

In March, Europe authorities said they had foiled several terror plots, some involving suspects posing as refugees, with threats coming from Iran and its proxies in the Middle East, including Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as Islamic State Khorasan, Islamic State’s Afghanistan-based successor organisation.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, warned late last year that these and other actors were being galvanised by the war in Gaza and that Jews and Jewish institutions across Europe were among the potential targets, the Wall St Journal reported.

The two enemies had appeared to step back from the brink of all-out war after engaging in tit-for-tat strikes, set off by an Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria that killed seven Revolutionary Guards, including Iran’s military chief in Syria.

Tehran responded with a massive barrage of 300 drones and missiles, most of which were successfully destroyed by Israel and allies including the US, UK and France, before they reached their targets.

Israel went on to launch a limited attack on an Iranian military base near the central city of Isfahan, in a move widely seen as sending a message to Tehran that it could strike the country’s military and nuclear bases.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels have continused with their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, and have expanded their attacks to the Indian Ocean, adding pressure on commercial shipping. Houthis on Tuesday claimed a drone attack on the MSC Orion container ship, whose operator Zodiac Maritime is partly owned by an Israeli businessman.

The latest strike comes as Israel braces for the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other political and military leaders.