The operation was coded as “the wedding,” a label used by Iranian intelligence for a plan aimed at killing two presenters on Iran International, a Persian-language satellite channel critical of Tehran’s regime. A human trafficker associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps handled the attempt, with a payment of $200,000 offered for the murders. The initial plan called for a car bomb to strike the journalists, later changed to a kitchen knife. Yet nothing unfolded as intended. The would‑be killer proved to be a double agent who alerted Scotland Yard to the murder plot and ultimately thwarted the operation, a fact ITV disclosed in December.
A failed operation like this, punished by London and Washington with sanctions on those responsible, underscored Iran’s aggressive moves against opponents abroad. The term covers a broad spectrum of targets, from journalists and activists to Iranian political figures and even foreign government officials. Tehran is reported to use assassination, kidnapping, online harassment, and infiltration of exile groups to disrupt activities. While suppression of dissent is not new, Western governments warn that the regime has intensified its campaign since millions of Iranians took to the streets in late 2022 to protest restrictive laws and gender-based discrimination.
“We are in a moment with hardly any precedent,” a senior British official told scholars at The Economist, describing a peak period of Iranian state activity since 1979. Sovereignty concerns seem to matter little to Tehran, as officials identified 15 credible threats in the UK alone during 2022 targeting residents or citizens. In the same year, the United States dismantled plots to harm John Bolton, the former U.S. national security adviser, apparently linked to retaliation for the 2020 killing of IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani, and plans to abduct Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad in New York. Earlier, the Netherlands accused Iran of two political assassinations on Dutch soil targeting Iranians who opposed the ayatollahs’ government.
A highly active opposition in exile
“The regime has little popular support at home or abroad and faces mounting international pressure,” says Shiva Mahboubi, a long‑time human rights lawyer who has lived in London since leaving Iran in 1992. “Exiled opposition groups remain highly active. They organize campaigns and demonstrations for women’s rights and political prisoners, to pressure Tehran or strain diplomatic ties, and the regime worries.” These campaigns helped force Iran’s expulsion from a key United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in late 2022.
The persecution of dissidents abroad is not new. In the 1980s and 1990s, artists, politicians, and Iranian figures at odds with the regime were targeted in Germany, Australia, Cyprus, and France. Kidnappings—often carried out in Middle Eastern states—were acknowledged by Iran’s former intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi. “Our strategy has focused on bringing individuals who pose a security threat into the country using intricate intelligence techniques,” he told the state news agency IRNA. Last year, for instance, activist Habib Chaab, who championed Arab separatism in Iran, was hanged after being abducted years earlier in Turkey.
“A notable shift is that Iran no longer directly attacks dissidents; it outsources the job to thugs and hitmen,” Mahboubi notes. A second change is the online harassment, with direct threats to kill or mutilate activists, sometimes so routine that many do not report them to police. The constant sense of danger weighs heavily on activists, and Mahboubi explains that attending demonstrations often means not returning home alone and seeking someone to escort them, aware of ongoing surveillance. “It’s incredibly hard and emotionally exhausting,” she confides.
Despite repeated Western condemnations, many dissidents do not feel adequately supported by allies. Numerous Iranian agents detained abroad end up exchanged for Western citizens jailed in Iran, and even with a slate of sanctions, many governments have not downgraded diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic.
“They didn’t act during the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ protests either, when hundreds of Iranians were killed and thousands jailed,” says activist Shaghayegh Norouzi. “We all feel betrayed by the West. Governments do not back the opposition or engage with it in meaningful ways. We do not want Iran bombarded, but there must be real pressure.”