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2018-12-25 Europe
Albania expels Iranian terror diplomats
[American Thinker] In a surprising move, the Albanian government announced on Wednesday, 19 December that it had expelled Iran's ambassador, Gholamhossein Mohammadnia, and another diplomat for "damaging its national security." The Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq, (MEK), said last February that Iran's ambassador, Mohammadnia, was a high-ranking official of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).

In March 2018, a car bomb attack targeting a gathering of MEK members in Tirana, the capital of Albania, was foiled. Two Iranians were temporarily detained and expelled from Albania. On 19 April, Prime Minister Edi Rama, in an interview with the Albanian Vision Plus TV, referred to the threat posed by the Iranian regime's terrorist attacks. The Albanian arrests were referenced in the U.S. Department of State's fact sheet on the Iranian regime's terrorism in Europe on 5 July.

The U.S. embassy in Albania, on 20 December released a letter from President Donald Trump thanking Edi Rama for "steadfast efforts to stand up to Iran and its destabilizing activities and efforts to silence the dissidents around the globe."

President Trump's letter and further remarks by the Albanian interior minister, Mr. Sander Lleshi, leave no doubt that the expulsions were made due to the Iranian regime's malignant activities against the MEK in Albania.

In an interview with the Albanian Vision Plus TV, on Thursday evening, Mr. Lleshi said, "If you have closely followed the latest developments in Europe, there has been similar evidence in other European countries where MEK members have been threatened by the Iranian security services[.] ... We have welcomed them as friends. We do not consider them as a risk or threat to our security, because otherwise we would not have accepted them to Albania. This is the stance of the Albanian government, the Albanian police and other security authorities towards these individuals."
Posted by Frank G 2018-12-25 07:01|| || Front Page|| [4 views ]  Top
 File under: Govt of Iran 










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