Iran International
The recent admission by a former Revolutionary Guards minister about orchestrating the killing of dissidents on European soil in the 1980s and 1990s shed light on Tehran's ruthless suppression of opponents abroad.
In a video interview published by Didehban-e Iran, Mohsen Rafiqdoost, a founding member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its minister from 1980 to 1999, described his role in funding covert operations abroad. His statements indicated that Iran was directly involved in orchestrating political assassinations beyond its borders.
His office in a statement on Monday attributed the shock admissions to his mental debilitation after a brain surgery despite the release of a hitherto unpublished segment of another video interview in 2018 in which Refiqdoost had made similar claims.
Political implications and reactions
Iranian-Canadian political analyst Shahir Sahidsaless speculated in an X post on Tuesday that Rafiqdoost’s admission to multiple assassinations could not have been “accidental, inadvertent, or unplanned.” He suggested that these revelations are tied to Iran-US negotiations and potential sanctions relief. According to Sahidsaless, the IRGC, which holds significant economic power in Iran, benefits from ongoing sanctions and may be attempting to undermine diplomatic efforts by confirming Iran’s involvement in assassinations.
"Rafiqdoost's confessions are deliberately intended to block any possibility of negotiations [with the United States] and the lifting of sanctions," Sahidsaless wrote. He argued that assassinations in the West go beyond Iran's support for militant groups, a longstanding point of contention with Western governments. These admissions, he said, amount to an acknowledgment that the government has directly ordered and carried out killings abroad.
Thus far, European governments and the United States have not responded to these claims. Sahidsaless speculated that the lack of immediate reaction might be due to ongoing diplomatic considerations, including US efforts to engage with Tehran.
Possible diplomatic fallout
Sahidsaless warned that this controversy could lead to intensified international pressure on Iran, including the formal designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization in Europe and strengthened European support for US-imposed sanctions. If negotiations fail and Iran persists in advancing its nuclear program, these admissions could provide further justification for punitive measures.
Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a conservative member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, similarly referred to the importance of the timing and impact of Rafiqdoost’s controversial interview. “Foreign [powers] will take this as a true statement,” Bakhshayesh told the Iranian Labour News Agency on Monday.
While acknowledging that Rafiqdoost’s claims might contain some truth, he criticized the general for discussing classified matters at a time when Iran is under maximum pressure. “This is injustice to the country, especially in the current circumstances that we are under maximum pressure.”
Who were the victims?
According to Rafiqdoost, the victims included dissidents as well as high-profile figures such as Shapour Bakhtiar, Iran's last prime minister under the Shah, who was assassinated in Paris in 1991, and General Gholam-Ali Oveissi, the chief commander of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces, who was killed in Paris in 1984.
“The Basque separatist group in Spain carried out these assassinations for us. We paid them, and they conducted the killings on our behalf,” he said.
Rafiqdoost’s admissions could be potentially used by the families of victims in European courts as evidence if they choose to sue the Islamic Republic as a sponsor of terrorism.
Iran has allegedly continued assassination of dissidents overseas. Currently, two members of the Russian mob are standing trial in a US federal court over an alleged plot to kill Iranian-American feminist activist Masih Alinejad on US soil.
Denials and controversy
Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s former ambassador to Germany (1990–1997) and a senior nuclear negotiator, tweeted that he was :stunned, amazed and shocked" by the revelations, particularly regarding the killing of dissident artist Fereydun Farrokhzad in Munich in the 1990s. However, Mousavian himself has long faced allegations of involvement in Iran’s overseas assassination campaigns. Opposition groups have accused him of orchestrating over 20 assassinations in Europe, including the notorious Mykonos restaurant killings in Berlin in 1992, where four Kurdish leaders were murdered by Iranian agents.
Mousavian’s alleged role has fueled calls for his expulsion from Princeton University, where he has been a visiting research scholar since 2009.
Mohsen Rafiqdoost, a former bodyguard of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and an architect of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), made the comments in a recently surfaced video interview.
A bank account in Frankfurt was used to channel money for covert operations abroad, Rafiqdoost said, including for the killing of a former Iranian military commander General Gholam-Ali Oveisi in Paris in 1984.
“We had an account under the name KM,” he said in the video published Monday by Abdollah Abdi, the editor of independent outlet Abdi Media. “The money in that account was used for actions outside the country that could not be done with ordinary funds.”
He also linked the account to proceeds from arms sales during the Iran-Iraq war, recalling how a weapons purchase in Spain left a surplus of $10,000. “That was the beginning of moving funds into that account,” he said.
Rafiqdoost’s statements follow remarks he made on Saturday to the Iranian site Didban Iran, where he said he oversaw multiple assassination operations targeting dissidents. He named several figures killed in Europe, including Shapour Bakhtiar, the last prime minister under the Shah, and Fereydoun Farrokhzad, a singer and outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic.
“The Basque separatist group in Spain carried out these assassinations for us. We paid them, and they conducted the killings on our behalf,” he said.
Rafiqdoost's office disavowed the interviews, chalking the reported comments up to mental deficiencies after surgery and media distortions.
"Mr. Rafiqdoost underwent brain surgery in past years, which resulted in extensive complications and may have affected his recollection of certain memories and names. Therefore, his statements are not legally or historically reliable," it said in a statement.
"Media judgments regarding his statements are inaccurate. Only the official narrative of the events in question can be considered valid."
Khomeini critic silenced
US-based former Iranian ambassador to Germany Hossein Mousavian expressed surprise at the remarks, saying in a post on X that he had believed for decades that Farrokhzad’s killing was the work of Iranian opposition groups.
“After 32 years, for the first time, I learned the facts of the case from Mr. Rafiqdoust’s interview,” added Mousavian, now at Princeton University, New Jersey.
Farrokhzad was murdered in 1992 in Bonn, Germany. At the time, Iranian officials denied involvement, while reports suggested a professional-style hit.
German police found Farrokhzad's body in the kitchen of his apartment. A switchblade had been driven into his right shoulder from behind, and a longer kitchen knife was lodged in his mouth.
In exile, Farrokhzad had become a fierce and outspoken critic of Iran's clerical rulers. He repeatedly mocked Khomeini, portraying him as an illiterate, superstitious figure with sexual fixations in his writings.
Farrokhzad’s murder is often considered part of the so-called Chain Murders in Iran—an series of assassinations that saw numerous dissident intellectuals and activists either disappear or be killed between 1986 and 1998.
The Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence later admitted responsibility for some of the killings.
Mousavian said the Iranian embassy had even facilitated talks for Farrokhzad’s possible return to Iran.
“My colleagues and I at the embassy worked diligently for several months with full capacity, sincerity, and conviction to obtain the approval of the relevant Iranian authorities for his return and security,” he wrote.
Human rights organizations have long accused Tehran of orchestrating assassinations abroad. In a report published in December, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center detailed four decades of extrajudicial killings tied to the Islamic Republic.
