DISINFO: Iran has never invaded, carried out assassinations or sought nuclear weapons
SUMMARY
What exactly has Iran done wrong? Has it attacked anyone? Has it carried out political assassinations in other countries? Has it even hinted at seeking nuclear weapons? No. In fact, Iran’s Supreme Leader has issued a ruling stating that the country has no intention of acquiring nuclear arms.
RESPONSE
This is a disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets, trying to whitewash Iran, its leadership and its actions. This claim was made in the context of a recent escalation between Israel and Iran.
Although Iran has not formally invaded or attacked countries in recent years, it has been deeply involved in regional destabilisation through proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and various Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, all of whom have been armed, funded, and trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran’s leadership has also ordered assassinations of several critics of the regime.
A German court in 1997 concluded that Iranian government was "directly involved" in the 1992 killings of several top members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) at a restaurant in Berlin. In 1994, a Hezbollah bomb killed 85 people at a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. This attack was carried out with Iranian support. Iran’s authorities have orchestrated numerous foiled assassination attempts against dissidents in Europe in recent years.
While Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons, Tehran has steadily increased its uranium enrichment well beyond the 3 to 5 per cent level needed for power generation. Iran has enriched uranium up to 60 per cent, which is closer to the 90 per cent level required for weapons-grade material.
Moreover, Iranian leaders have repeatedly made hostile statements about Israel. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in 2005 that Israel must be destroyed. Khamenei said in 2015 that Israel would not exist in 25 years. In 2020, he called Israel a “cancerous tumour” that must be removed.
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