Iran rejects ‘big lie’ after US, Israel allege plot to assassinate envoy in Mexico

The United States and Israel on Friday accused Iran of planning to assassinate Israel’s ambassador to Mexico, Einat Kranz-Neiger, a charge Tehran has denounced as a “big lie". Mexican authorities, meanwhile, said they had not received any information on such an incident.

Israel’s foreign ministry expressed gratitude to Mexican security forces for allegedly preventing a terrorist network, which it said was directed by Iran, from carrying out the attack. However, Mexico’s foreign ministry stated that it had “received no information” about the reported plot.

Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, without directly naming the US or Israel, said it remained open to “respectful and coordinated cooperation” with international security agencies, provided such collaboration respected national sovereignty.

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In response, Iran’s embassy in Mexico dismissed the accusation, saying its purpose was to harm the “friendly and historic relations” between Mexico and Iran.

Mexico, which traditionally adheres to a policy of non-intervention in global affairs, has maintained a cautious position on the Gaza conflict. While it has supported investigations into alleged Israeli war crimes, it continues to uphold diplomatic relations with Israel that have endured for decades.

Alleged Venezuela link and rising regional tensions

A US official claimed the plot was organised by the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in late 2024 and disrupted this year. The official said operatives were allegedly recruited from Iran’s embassy in Venezuela, whose president, Nicolas Maduro, maintains a tactical alliance with Tehran.

“This is just the latest in a long history of Iran’s global lethal targeting of diplomats, journalists, dissidents and anyone who disagrees with them,” the US official said anonymously, without providing specific evidence or details of how the plot was foiled.

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The alleged scheme followed Israel’s 1 April 2024 strike on the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus, which killed several senior Revolutionary Guard officers. Iran vowed retaliation and later launched missiles and drones against Israel. A year after that attack, Israel conducted extensive airstrikes in Iran, killing more than 1,000 people, with US support targeting key nuclear sites.

Iran remains a staunch backer of Hamas, which carried out the 7 October 2023 attack  on Israel. Israel’s subsequent military campaign has devastated Gaza and expanded across the region, targeting Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar and Yemen.

Israeli intelligence has repeatedly accused the Quds Force of plotting against Israeli and Jewish interests abroad. Australia recently expelled Iran’s ambassador, citing Tehran’s involvement in two arson attacks — one on a Melbourne synagogue and another on a kosher restaurant in Sydney.

Latin America has previously witnessed West Asia-linked violence, including the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, an attack attributed by Argentina and Israel to Hezbollah acting on Iran’s orders.

Despite Tehran’s official hostility toward Israel since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran remains home to a historic Jewish community.

(With agency inputs)