Denmark pushes for fresh Iran sanctions over 'assassination plot'

Denmark pushes for fresh Iran sanctions over 'assassination plot'

Copenhagen also recalls ambassador to Tehran as it accuses Iran of plotting assassination on 

Danish soil

Denmark has recalled its ambassador from Tehran and called for fresh EU sanctions against Iran after its security services accused Iranian intelligence service of plotting an assassination on Danish soil.

The Danish intelligence chief, Finn Borch Andersen, said on Tuesday that the alleged murder plot had targeted the exiled leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), a separatist group which has a history of carrying out attacks in Iran.

“We are dealing with an Iranian intelligence agency planning an attack on Danish soil. Obviously, we can’t and won’t accept that,” Andersen said.

A Norwegian national of Iranian background has been arrested in Sweden and since extradited to Denmark in connection with the foiled attack, according to officials.

Andersen revealed on Tuesday that a massive police operation that cut off Copenhagen from the rest of Denmark for several hours last month was triggered when police noticed a stolen, Swedish-registered car near the home of an Iranian opposition activist.

Fearing an attack was imminent, Danish authorities closed the Øresund bridge linking Denmark and Sweden, and the Great Belt bridge between the islands of Zealand and Funen. Hundreds of Danish police and soldiers used cars, sniffer dogs and helicopters to hunt for the rental car.

The Danish foreign minister, Anders Samuelsen, said the foiled attack was “completely unacceptable” and that his government “will respond to Iran and is speaking with European partners on further measures”.

More from Washington Post