German media outlets reported on Thursday evening, suspicions that Iran's Revolutionary Guards are behind the recent attempts to attack synagogues of the country's Jewish community.
These reports have yet to be officially confirmed, but they reinforce allegations of increased efforts of the IRGC to carry out terror attacks and murders against their enemies.
There have recently been three incidents which were being tied back to Iran, all of which took place on the same night last month, in several cities in the German provincial state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The events included a shooting at a synagogue in Essen, throwing explosives towards a school close to a synagogue in Bochum, and a plan to set fire to a synagogue in Dortmund.
One of the main suspects is German-Iranian citizen Ramin Yaktafars, nicknamed "Rami Y", who fled to Iran in September 2021. The suspect was the head of a local branch of a gang called "Angels of Hell", and Germany issued an international arrest warrant against him on suspicion of murder. The recent reports claim that he was drafted by the Revolutionary Guards.
The German media outlets said that there were allegations that Yaktafars was in contact with another German-Iranian citizen who was arrested last month for trying to set fire to the synagogue in Dortmund. He was detained after an additional German-Iranian citizen told the police that the suspect tried to convince him to throw explosives at the synagogue. According to the testimony, the man promised him that if he did so, he would be pardoned by the Iranian authorities and would be able to return to his country unharmed.
The reports claim that there was a total of four suspects involved in the alleged attacks - one was arrested, one turned himself in, and the other two were still at large.
The four allegedly surveilled the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster. Following the investigation, Schuster's security was reinforced, as well as those surrounding local Jewish institutions.
The German reports came out at the same time as a Washington Post article, claiming that Iran was increasing its efforts to carry out murder and kidnappings of government officials, protest activists, dissidents, and journalists around the world.
Officials in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East confirmed that Iranian intelligence heavily relied on non-Iranian sources to carry out terror attacks.
Experts believe that Iran was trying to convince criminals, such as jewelry thieves or drug dealers, to carry out terror strikes in exchange for thousands of dollars. Given the draftees often times get "cold feet", these operations are not always carried out, but the officials warn that this does not exhaust the Iranian efforts.