14 Countries Condemn Iran’s Plots to ‘Kill, Kidnap and Harass’ Citizens Abroad

Journalists, Dissidents, Jewish Citizens, and Officials Targeted by Intelligence Agencies

August 1, 2025 — A group of 14 countries, including Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, released a joint statement on July 31, 2025, condemning the rising threat posed by attempts by Iranian intelligence services to “kill, kidnap, and harass” citizens on their soil.

In the joint statement, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the U.S. stated that Iranian intelligence services were “increasingly collaborating with international criminal organisations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials in Europe and North America.”

The 15 countries vowed to cooperate to stop such illegal activities and demanded that the Iranian authorities immediately cease these hostile actions.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) welcomes this statement and strongly encourages further multilateral actions to address Iran’s violent and criminal transnational actions.

The Islamic Republic’s intelligence and security apparatuses have long engaged in transnational repression, including assassination plots, kidnappings, and harassment that target dissidents, journalists, minority communities, and political opponents beyond its borders. These operations aim to silence dissent and spread fear among the Iranian diaspora and among activists abroad, in blatant violation of the sovereignty of other nations and international law.

The Islamic Republic has also long engaged in the abduction of dual and foreign nationals, both abroad and on Iranian soil, in order to imprison these individuals in Iran and use them as bargaining chips to extract political and financial concessions from other countries.

This hostage taking—as well as the assassinations, kidnappings, and other forms of transnational violence and repression that the Islamic Republic engages in—will only be stopped by concerted and coordinated collective multilateral actions that impose sweeping and severe political and economic costs on the Islamic Republic for the continuation of these activities. 

Read their full statement below.

Joint Statement on Iranian State Threat Activity in Europe and North America

The following statement is released by the governments of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States:

“Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States condemn the growing number of state threats from Iranian intelligence services in our respective territories.

“We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty. These Services are increasingly collaborating with international criminal organisations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials in Europe and North America. This is unacceptable.

“We consider these types of attacks, regardless of the target, as violations of our sovereignty. We are committed to working together to prevent these actions from happening and we call on the Iranian authorities to immediately put an end to such illegal activities in our respective territories.”