Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA)

In an interview published on March 8, 2025, by the Iranian news website Didar-e Ban-e Iran, Mohsen Rafighdoost – a former Minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and one of the key figures in the Islamic Revolution – delivered a stunning, direct, and unapologetic confession: that the Iranian regime, through the IRGC, assassinated a series of exiled opponents in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s. It is one of the most open and detailed admissions ever made by a senior Iranian official regarding state-sponsored terrorism outside Iran’s borders.

“We Had Teams that Eliminated Them”

In the interview, Rafighdoost listed names of generals, a former prime minister, and cultural figures who were assassinated in Europe. According to him, the IRGC operated dedicated hit squads, sometimes using external collaborators – primarily the Basque separatist movement ETA.

“We had a team that dealt with Oveissi,” he said, referring to General Gholam Ali Oveissi, who was assassinated in Paris in 1984. “Also with Ashraf’s son [Shahriar Shafiq], with Fereydoun Farrokhzad [a singer and cultural figure who was murdered in Germany], and with Bakhtiar [the last prime minister under the Shah, who was assassinated in Paris in 1991]. All of them were taken care of by the teams we had there. Usually, the kids from the Basque group were the ones who carried out the missions. They eliminated them, and no one else got involved.”

In other words, the IRGC – a military-ideological body directly subordinate to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – financed and operated foreign terror cells to eliminate dissidents abroad.

Pressure on the French Government: “If Your Plane Blows Up – Don’t Complain”

The interview also included Rafighdoost’s description of direct threats made by Iran against the French government to secure the release of Anis Naccache, an Iranian-Lebanese agent imprisoned after a failed assassination attempt on Bakhtiar in Paris in 1980.

“Yes, in that case, I was his commander…even in court, they said it. I was the one in charge. I sent them, they went, and eventually they got caught,” Rafighdoost said.

“Naccache went on a hunger strike. He said: ‘I’ll only stop if Haj Mohsen comes.’ I traveled to France. I met with the Foreign Minister and said: If after two weeks your embassy blows up or one of your planes is hijacked – don’t complain.” According to Rafighdoost, the threat worked: France released Naccache.

Who Paid for the Killings? “We Paid the Basques”

When asked directly if Iran had paid ETA to carry out the assassinations, Rafighdoost answered plainly, “Yes, we paid the Basques to carry out the assassinations.”

He then elaborated on the payment mechanism. “We said: We want to eliminate so-and-so. They said: It’ll cost this much. There was a Muslim cleric from Egypt in Germany who was their friend. We gave him the money and said: If they eliminate the target – transfer the money to them.”

Denials and Smears – until the Old Tape Emerged

The interview, predictably, was removed from the website within hours. The pro-IRGC Tasnim News Agency quickly issued a scathing rebuttal, claiming Rafighdoost “suffers from cognitive decline,” “makes up memories,” and “never held any real security role.” This, despite the fact that Rafighdoost served as Minister of the IRGC for eight years, was close to both Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei, and was instrumental in the founding of the organization.

Tasnim’s editorial mocked his “colloquial language” and even suggested that some of the assassinations he described were actually carried out by Mossad or Iranian opposition groups.

In response to the denials, exiled journalist “Abdi,” who runs a popular Telegram channel, published a previously unreleased interview he had conducted with Rafighdoost seven years earlier – when Rafighdoost was still living in Iran. The recording had been kept secret until now and was released due to what Abdi called “a systematic attempt to erase the truth.”

In that earlier interview, Rafighdoost repeated the exact same claims – with the same names, same operational details, and the same mention of a Frankfurt bank account used to finance the hits.

“We eliminated Oveissi with that money. Meaning, all the operations we carried out abroad, which couldn’t be paid for with regular funds – we used money from that account.”

In this statement, Rafighdoost admits that Iran used bribe money received from arms deals in Europe, depositing it into a bank account in Frankfurt managed by his office. From that account – kept off the official state budget – the regime funded the assassinations of political dissidents abroad.

The quote was whispered. Rafighdoost believed the camera was off and asked the journalist not to publish it. That fact – the absence of any personal or political gain – makes the testimony all the more compelling: when he thought no one was listening, he told the exact same story.

BBC Persian Journalist: “This Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg”

Following the new revelations, Hossein Bastani, a senior journalist at BBC Persian, published a sharp rebuttal to Tasnim via Telegram. In his post, he wrote, “Rafighdoost’s recent admissions reveal only the tip of the iceberg….In less than two weeks in September 1986, five bombs exploded in Paris. The Islamic Republic waged a clear campaign of terror – in the heart of Europe.”

He referenced the murder of the French military attaché in Lebanon, a string of bombings across Paris, and naval threats in the Persian Gulf – all as part of Iran’s pressure campaign after France initially refused to release Naccache. “Negotiations resumed only after the Iranians made France understand – the price of resistance was too high,” he said.

Not Commentary – An Iranian Legal Interpretation

Rather than explaining why the revelations above should serve as grounds for a criminal and international investigation, we give the floor to Iranian legal expert Sina Yousefi, a specialist in international law, who wrote in a post on his X account: “The recent statements by Mohsen Rafighdoost, former Minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), regarding his direct involvement in assassinating opponents of the Islamic Republic outside Iran, are worthy of thorough examination from the perspective of international law and in line with precedents set by the International Court of Justice (ICJ)….The interview was published by an official media outlet, and the video is publicly available – which strengthens the credibility of the statements….It can be argued that his explicit admission of orchestrating assassinations may be considered an indication of official state policy.”

Why Now?

Our assessment is that Rafighdoost chose to disclose this explosive information in order to sabotage potential reconciliation talks between Iran and the United States.

This is also supported by an Iranian commentary published on the social media platform X – the purpose of the revelation appears to be to send a clear message to Iran’s current leadership: “We once ruled Iran, the Middle East — and Europe. And you? You couldn’t even harm two Israeli businessmen.”

This Time We Agree with Rafighdoost

There is no trust at all that these claims, which create reasonable suspicion for investigation by the International Court of Justice, will actually be examined by the Court – after all, according to the standards of international institutions, it was possible, in October 2023, to appoint Iran as chair of the Social Forum of the UN Human Rights Council, only three weeks after it publicly supported the Hamas terror attack in which 1,400 Israelis were murdered and 240 others were kidnapped.

Therefore, in this case, we must agree with Rafighdoost – not with the assassinations or the ideology, but with one thing – no diplomacy. When it comes to the Iranian regime, we must destroy their nuclear infrastructure.

The reason is because a regime that sees assassinating dissidents on every continent as a legitimate means will not build a nuclear bomb to deter; it will build it to use it.

As for the IRGC, action must be taken to outlaw it in the European Union and in the United Kingdom, alongside intelligence and operational activity to damage its operations in Europe and around the world.

In this context, it is worth noting that on July 24, 2024, German police raided the Islamic Center in Hamburg, which had been under the control of the Iranian regime since 1979. They shut it down and banned any further activity on charges of terrorism and illegal operations. This operation was later expanded, resulting in the closure of several additional Islamic centers across Germany that operated under the sponsorship of the Iranian regime – but this is just a drop in the ocean.