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Iran claims it foiled Arab-Israeli plot to kill IRGC leader

The apparent target was commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Iranian Quds Force Commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Iranian Quds Force Commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Iran claimed on Thursday that it had thwarted an Israeli-Arab plot to assassinate the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

The IRGC’s head of intelligence, Hossein Ta’eb, said that three suspects in the alleged attempt, which had been an unspecified “years in planning,” were apprehended, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.

“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 Maj. Gen. Soleimani in his home province of Kerman,” said Ta’eb, who specified that the plotters sought to purchase property next to the grave of Soleimani’s father and attach it with explosives to kill the leader.

Ta’eb did not mention the Arab countries involved in the alleged plot.

“Such hate has no place in our schools or our state, especially as we begin Jewish American Heritage Month,” said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.
“While our ability to provide additional information at this time is limited, we will continue to keep the community informed,” the private D.C. university stated.
“This is not a prank. It was an act of intimidation meant to spread fear,” Vince Gasparro, a Liberal parliamentarian, told JNS.
“We welcomed this traitor into our nation with open arms,” the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan said. “And he repaid us by building a bomb and helping our great enemy.”
The “failed approach” to lasting peace between the countries has “allowed terrorist groups to entrench and enrich themselves, undermine the authority of the Lebanese state and endanger Israel’s northern border,” said State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.
“One has to wonder how that humble pie tastes for the Democrats today,” Sam Markstein of the Republican Jewish Coalition told JNS.