Mexico thwarted an Iran-orchestrated terrorist attack against Israeli Ambassador Einat Kranz Neiger, the Foreign Ministry revealed.
This announcement on Friday was made hours after N12 reported American and Israeli officials confirmed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps planned to attack Israel’s ambassador as part of a wider plot targeting both Israeli and American interests in the region.
“We are in the direct line of fire right now. Diplomats are literally standing at the forefront as they represent the State of Israel in a climate that is not always simple,” Kranz Neiger told Walla.
“We are well aware of the history of Iran and its attacks in Latin America, and this is a good opportunity to thank the authorities and security services here in Mexico for their assistance in thwarting the attack against me.”
Kranz Neiger said that ever since the information was publicized, she has been talking to the media in Mexico.
The IRGC planned to assassinate the ambassador earlier this year. In this context, US officials told N12 that there was no longer an active threat.
The Foreign Ministry thanked the security and law enforcement services in Mexico for “thwarting a terrorist network directed by Iran that sought to attack Israel’s ambassador in Mexico.”
The Iranian embassy in Mexico said the accusation was “entirely false,” reported Mehr News Agency, which is sponsored by Iran.
“We will never tarnish the good reputation of Mexicans, our friends. We consider a betrayal of Mexico’s interests as a betrayal of our own, and respecting Mexico’s laws is our highest priority,” Mehr cited the embassy as saying.
Iran's attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets
American sources told N12 that large components of the attacks were planned from the Iranian embassy in Venezuela and were led by a man called Hassan Izadi.
After spending years recruiting from the Venezuelan embassy, Izadi was relocated to a new position in Tehran, where he was said to have continued to plot against the Israeli ambassador.
The IRGC Quds Force’s 11000 Unit, which is presumed to be the military wing responsible for orchestrating this planned assassination, is also behind a number of recently foiled attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets in Australia and Europe, according to Axios.
“This is just the latest example in a long history of assassination attempts by Iran worldwide against diplomats, journalists, dissidents, and anyone who disagrees with it – something that should raise deep concern in any country where there is an Iranian presence,” one American official said.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said the “Israeli intelligence and security community will continue to work tirelessly and in full cooperation with comparable agencies worldwide to thwart terror threats from Iran and its proxies against Israeli and Jewish targets.”
Security services in the UK and Sweden warned last year that Tehran was using criminal proxies to carry out violent attacks in those countries, with London saying it had disrupted 20 Iran-linked plots since 2022.
A dozen other countries have condemned what they called a surge in assassination, kidnapping, and harassment schemes by Iranian intelligence services.
The UK’s domestic spy chief, MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum, said last month that Iran was “frantically” trying to silence its critics on a global scale. He mentioned as examples that Australia had exposed Iran’s involvement in antisemitic plots and that Dutch authorities had revealed a similar failed assassination attempt.