The Mossad spy agency foiled a recent Iranian attempt to assassinate an Israeli diplomat working at the consulate in Istanbul

Por Yosef Cohen  -Special Total News Agency-TNA-

According to the unsourced report, a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was arrested in an unnamed European country in connection with the planned attack.

The suspect was said to have been a member of Unit 840 of the Quds Force, the branch of the IRGC tasked with carrying out overseas operations. He was said to also be connected to drug-smuggling networks.

In February, it was reported that Mossad helped foil 12 plots to carry out terror attacks on Israelis in Turkey over the past two years, most of the plots linked to the Islamic State jihadist group.

The reported assassination attempt comes amid warming ties between Jerusalem and Ankara, and as attempts falter to resurrect the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Last year, Turkish intelligence reportedly thwarted an Iranian plan to assassinate an Israeli-Turkish businessman who lives in Istanbul and owns an engineering company specializing in aerospace technology.

The planned hit was to be a retaliation for the killing of Iranian nuclear chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020, widely attributed to Israel’s Mossad, the reports said, as well as a means to hinder warming relations between Ankara and Jerusalem.

In the months following the alleged attempt to kill the Israeli businessman, ties between Israel and Turkey have warmed further still, with President Isaac Herzog meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara last month.

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