Ayatollah Khamenei. Image Credit: Tasnim News, CC BY 4.0.
Israel’s national intelligence agency, the Mossad, has thwarted multiple attacks by Iran against Israeli tourists and businessmen in three African countries, according to reports from Israel’s Channel 12.
Targets included Israelis visiting the central and west African countries of Tanzania, Senegal and Ghana.
Five suspects, all with African passports, have been arrested, according to reports.
The arrests follow a dramatic increase in efforts by Iran and its proxies to harm Israel and Israelis, including at sea, abroad, and using cyberattacks.
Iran has been linked to the Black Shadow cyberattacks which damaged servers in Israel, including that of Cyberserve, last week.
The African plot forms part of the spike in Iranian security attacks against Israel since the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, one of Tehran’s top nuclear scientists, in November 2020.
Last month, Tehran was accused of attempting to attack Israelis in Cyprus, following similar attempts in 2012.
Iranian plots to attack Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kenya have similarly been reported since 2012.
Israeli intelligence officials have judged that Iran’s actions such as these represent a ‘tit-for-tat’ strategy to avenge alleged Israeli attacks against Iranian nuclear and military personnel.
Iran has accused Israel of sabotaging nuclear facilities.