Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Israel's intelligence agency is framing Iran in alleged attack plots on European soil with the aim of sabotaging the 2015 nuclear accord.
"Incredible series of coincidences. Or, a simple chronology of a MOSSAD program to kill the JCPOA?" Zarif tweeted on Thursday, in reference to the nuclear deal signed between Tehran and world powers, which is formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Incredible series of coincidences. Or, a simple chronology of a MOSSAD program to kill the JCPOA? pic.twitter.com/Xg5e0C5DAA
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) November 1, 2018
Attached to the tweet was a picture detailing dates of claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Iran's nuclear program and of media reports about Mossad's claimed assistance in foiling alleged Iranian-backed attacks in Europe.
It showed how those dates coincide with the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, diplomatic events attended by US President Donald Trump or Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and efforts by the European Union to keep the deal alive.
His tweet came after Denmark said on Tuesday that it suspected Iran's intelligence service had tried to carry out an assassination on the European country's soil against an Iranian Arab opposition figure, which allegedly involved a Norwegian citizen of Iranian background.
A report claimed that Mossad had a role in helping foil the alleged attack. Denmark is now calling for fresh EU-wide sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
In the latest development, Norway summoned the Iranian ambassador on Thursday over the case, according to Reuters.
The Iranian government has denied any connection with what Norway suspects is a plot.
Zarif's tweet sought to link the most recent claim against Tehran to EU efforts to rescue the nuclear pact by building a financial mechanism known as the Special Purpose Vehicle to buy Tehran's oil and keep trade flowing despite the return of US sanctions.
Washington reintroduced sanctions against Iran's currency trade, metals and auto sectors in August and plans to impose new sanctions targeting the OPEC producer's vital oil exports on Nov. 4.
In an earlier tweet on Wednesday, the chief diplomat swept aside the alleged plot as a "false flag" operation carried out by Israel's intelligence service.
"Mossad's perverse & stubborn planting of false flags … only strengthens our resolve to engage constructively with the world," Zarif wrote after holding talks with senior Pakistani officials in Islamabad.
Evasive Action
Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said the claim by Denmark is an "evasive action" meant to deflect attention away from the fact that it is harboring anti-Iranian terrorists.
"Instead of being accountable for its inaction against terrorists who are based on its soil and have carried out terrorist attacks inside our country, Denmark has taken evasive action by making a false claim," he told ISNA in remarks published on Thursday.
He was referring to the fact that members of a terrorist group responsible for a September attack on a military parade in Iran's southwestern city of Ahvaz—which took the lives of 25 people and wounded many more—live in a number of European countries, including Denmark.
Copenhagen signaled its support for US sanctions against Tehran by making such an accusation against the Iranian government, Falahatpisheh said, calling on the Foreign Ministry to take a stronger stance against countries who host anti-Iranian terrorists.
