The story: Mohsen Rafiqdoost, a senior veteran of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has claimed deep involvement in assassinations of Iranian dissidents in Europe in the years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The sudden intervention has made waves inside the country and in the diaspora. Critics of the Islamic Republic view Rafiqdoost’s remarks as the first open admission of the political establishment’s involvement in the killings. But others dismiss the comments as an attempt by the octogenarian former IRGC minister to regain relevance.
The killings: In an interview with local media circulated on Mar. 8, Rafiqdoost, who served as the inaugural head of the now defunct Ministry of the IRGC between 1982 and 1988, stated that he was the “assassination commander” in charge of several high-profile killings of dissidents.
Radiqdoost specifically claimed responsibility for orchestrating the murders of four prominent Iranian political and military figures in Europe.
The named figures include Gholam Ali Oveisi, commander of the Imperial Iranian Army under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1941-79); Shahriar Shafiq, a naval officer and the Shah’s nephew; Shapour Bakhtiar, the last prime minister of Iran under the Pahlavi monarchy; and Fereydoun Farrokhzad, a popular singer and TV host-turned-political activist.
Farrokhzad was killed in Germany while the other three figures were assassinated in France in the aftermath of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
Rafiqdoost stated that the murders were subcontracted to the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). He also claimed that the funding was channeled through an Egyptian cleric based in Germany.
Rafiqdoost additionally went into detail about alleged efforts to secure the release of Lebanese citizen Anis Naccache from French custody. Also known as Al-Naqasheh, Naccache was handed a life sentence in 1980 for being an accessory to a failed attempt to kill Bakhtiar.
Rafiqdoost said he had traveled to France and implicitly threatened the then-French foreign minister that if Naccache is not released, Paris “should not complain” if a French embassy “blew up” or an airplane was “hijacked.”
In 1990, Naccache received a pardon from then-French president Francois Mitterrand (1981-95) and was exchanged with French citizens held in Lebanon.
The Lebanese national later recalled his involvement in the plot to kill Bakhtiar in an interview with Iranian media.
The reactions: Rafiqdoost’s startling comments have elicited a flurry of reactions, mostly on Iranian social media. One prominent reaction came from Hossein Mousavian, who served as Iran’s ambassador in Germany (1990-97) when Farrokhzad was killed.
Writing on Twitter/X on Mar. 10, Mousavian said he was “stunned, amazed, and shocked” by the revelations.
The former diplomat, now resident in the United States, insisted that Farrokhzad had expressed “regret about his past activities” and was preparing to return to Iran after the embassy managed to “obtain the approval” of relevant authorities in Tehran.
The ex-ambassador said that when the Iranian embassy heard the news of the killing, “Tehran assured us that Farrokhzad had been assassinated by the Iranian opposition.”
The range of reactions to Rafiqdoost’s intervention has been wide, with some viewing it as an open admission of rogue conduct—and others dismissing the remarks as lies.
Expressing shock. Reformist journalist Mohsen Salehikhah wrote that Rafiqdoost “took responsibility for assassinations that [the authorities] had spent at least four decades to cover up.”
Documentary filmmaker Hossein Dehbashi highlighted Rafiqdoost’s claim that an Egyptian cleric in Germany had paid for Farrokhzad’s killing, seemingly linking it to the forced closure last year of a mosque in Hamburg with alleged ties to Iran.
Reformist activist Feyzollah Arabsorkhi criticized Rafiqdoost for “proudly” speaking about having plotted assassinations, saying that efforts to “tarnish Iran’s image” in such a manner would rather be expected from figures like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Conservative newspaper Farhitekhgan on Mar. 10 referred to Rafiqdoost as a “retired friend” who has made “inaccurate and wrong statements, and not for the first time.” It also asserted that his comments play into Israel’s attempts to “portray the Islamic Republic as a threat.”
In apparent response to the widespread reactions, Rafiqdoost’s office issued a statement on Mar. 10.
The statement claimed that the IRGC veteran was “retelling someone else’s story” and disclosed that the 85-year-old had previously undergone brain surgery with “extensive complications.”
The text also criticized “hostile media abroad and biased domestic media” for allegedly “misusing” parts of the interview.
The context: All four people named by Rafiqdoost were prominent political and military figures who fled Iran after the downfall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979.
Shafiq was shot dead by unknown gunmen while leaving his mother’s home in Paris in 1979.
Oveisi was assassinated in Paris in 1984, shot along with his brother in broad daylight outside their residence in the French capital.
Bakhtiar, who became a leading opposition figure after fleeing Iran, was stabbed to death along with his secretary in his home in the Parisian suburb of Suresnes. One of the three assailants, Ali Vakili Rad, was sentenced to life in prison. He returned to Iran in 2010 after serving the minimum 18 years of his sentence.
Farrokhzad was stabbed to death in his apartment in Bonn in 1992.
The celebrated poet and singer’s killing was one of many in what has become known as the “chain murders,” a decade-long campaign in which the Islamic Republic allegedly assassinated dissidents in Iran and abroad.
The “chain murders”—which primarily took place in the 1980s and 1990s—also claimed the lives of prominent opposition figures Dariush Forouhar and his wife Parvaneh Eskandari.
The so-called “Mykonos incident,” during which four prominent Iranian Kurdish leaders were assassinated in Berlin in 1992, is one of the most well-known “chain murder” incidents.
Iranian authorities have long maintained that the killings of dissidents were not carried out under its orders.
Tehran has blamed opposition groups and even rogue elements within the state apparatus, such as former intelligence agent Saeed Emami.
Of further note, while Iranian media outlets have covered Rafiqdoost’s comments, officials have avoided wading into the debate.
The future: While unverified, Rafiqdoost’s intervention lends credence to allegations that the assassinations were orchestrated by Iranian intelligence or outsourced to foreign operatives.
Opposition figures will likely reference the IRGC veteran’s comments as proof of Tehran’s targeting of its critics abroad.
If evidence is presented, Rafiqdoost’s remarks could trigger further European human rights-related sanctions and potentially lawsuits against Iranian officials in western courts.
Source » amwaj.media