German federal prosecutors have filed charges against two men accused of plotting to assassinate Jewish community leaders and Israeli targets on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, marking the most brazen Iranian assassination attempt on European soil in three decades.
The suspects, identified only as Rahman F. and Mansour B. under German privacy laws, are accused of conducting surveillance on a synagogue in Essen and gathering intelligence on prominent Jewish community figures between November 2025 and February 2026, according to a statement from Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office.
Prosecutors allege the men were acting under direct orders from IRGC operatives based in Iran, part of what German intelligence officials describe as an escalating campaign of transnational repression targeting perceived enemies of the Iranian regime.
"This was not aspirational planning," a senior German security official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "These individuals had advanced to operational preparation. They had acquired weapons, identified targets, and were establishing surveillance patterns. We believe we interdicted this plot weeks, possibly days, before execution."
The investigation, code-named Operation Cyrus, began in late 2025 when German domestic intelligence detected communications between the suspects and known IRGC handlers. German authorities worked closely with Israeli Mossad and US intelligence agencies to track the conspiracy.
To understand today's headlines, we must look at yesterday's decisions. Iran has a long history of assassination operations in Europe, most notably the 1992 Mykonos restaurant attack in Berlin that killed four Iranian Kurdish opposition leaders. But those operations largely ceased after international outcry and German prosecution of Iranian officials. The resumption of such tactics represents a dangerous escalation.
The timing is particularly significant. The charges come as Iran is engaged in active conflict with and the in the . German officials believe the plot was designed to open a second front—bringing the war directly into European cities and deterring European support for .
