Iran Foiled Arab-«Israeli» Plot to Assassinate IRGC Gen. Soleimani

By Staff, Agencies

The Iranian government on Thursday said that it had foiled an Arab-“Israeli” plot to assassinate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] commander Qassem Soleimani.

According to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, the Head of Intelligence Hossein Ta’eb said in a gathering of IRGC commanders that Tehran foiled a plot of several years to assassinate Soleimani and that three suspects in the cell had been arrested.

Ta’eb said the enemies had plans to carry out the assassination during Fatimiyya – the days when Shiite Muslims mourn the martyrdom of Fatimah al-Zahra, daughter of Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] – and the Muharram season, when people hold mourning ceremonies in commemoration of Imam Hussein [PBUH], in Iran’s southeastern regions, to “trigger a religious war and attribute the assassination to an act of domestic revenge”.

“Frustrated by their failure to upset security in Iran or to harm the IRGC military bases, the enemies had hatched an extensive plot to hit Major General Soleimani in his home province of Kerman,” Ta’eb was quoted as saying.

According to him, a team of terrorists hired by the foreign security services was planned to enter into Iran during Fatimiyya, to buy a house near a Hussainia [a congregation hall for Shiite commemoration ceremonies] belonging to Major General Soleimani’s father, to carry 350 to 500 kilograms of explosives to the location, to dig a tunnel under the Hussainia, and to blow up the place as soon as Major General Soleimani went to the mourning ceremony like every year.

Ta’eb stated that the IRGC had been watching the team, which had been planning the attack for several years, before they entered the Islamic Republic.

The IRGC Intelligence Organization captured the 3-strong team of terrorists and foiled the plot that had taken years to design, Ta’eb added, saying the IRGC has been keeping a close watch on the terrorist team even when it was dispatched to the neighboring countries for a costly training course in preparation for the attack.

He said that “Israel” was so confident about the plot that an “Israeli” minister had announced that the regime in Tel Aviv was definitely going to assassinate Gen. Soleimani.

In September a senior “Israeli” military official said that while preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb remains the entity’s top priority, thwarting Hezbollah’s precision missile project has become the second top objective. After those two is preventing Iranian entrenchment in various Middle Eastern countries like Iraq and Yemen.

"Our three targets have one address – Iran," the source continued, adding that Gen. Soleimani is the address for two of the three threats. He refused to answer how “Israel” could deal with him.

"To prevent this consolidation by Iran, we are carrying out many operations that nobody knows anything about,” he said, adding that the operations are carried out by the “Israel” Occupation Forces [IOF] and the Mossad.