Two charged over plot to attack Iran opposition rally in France
Belgium on Monday charged a husband and wife over a plot to bomb a weekend rally by an exiled Iranian opposition group in France where close Donald Trump ally Rudy Giuliani was in attendance, The Local reported, adding three arrests were also made in France.
According to the source, Amir S., 38, and Nasimeh N., 33, both Belgian nationals, "are suspected of having attempted to carry out a bomb attack" on Saturday in the Paris suburb of Villepinte, during a conference organised by the People's Mujahedin of Iran, a statement from the Belgian federal prosecutor said.
The couple, described by prosecutors as being "of Iranian origin", were carrying 500 grams (about a pound) of the volatile explosive TATP along with a detonation device when an elite police squad stopped them in a residential district of Brussels.
Belgian prosecutors said an alleged accomplice was under arrest in France, while two others were released after questioning by French police.
"The investigations aim to determine the relations they might have with the suspects arrested in Belgium" on Monday.
The Belgian statement said that an Iranian diplomat at the Austrian embassy in Vienna, a contact of the couple, was also arrested in Germany.