Georgia stops Iranian attempt to assassinate Israeli

Itzik Moshe

Georgia foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate an Israeli, its State Security Service announced on Tuesday.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force orchestrated the plan to kill Itzik Moshe, a businessman who also worked to advance Israel-Georgia relations, with a number of teams from different countries.

One team of assassins from Pakistan have ties to Al Qaeda and arrived in Tbilisi to gather intelligence on the target. Another was arrested last week and found with weapons and ammunition, as well as other incriminating evidence. In addition, Georgian authorities arrested two dual Georgian-Iranian citizens in charge of smuggling weapons from Turkey to the assassins.

The teams received instructions from an Iranian citizen named Mohammad Reza Ebadi Arablu, who worked in the past for the Quds Force in Georgia. His boss is named Ali Feyzipour of the Quds Force, who works on terrorist attacks around the world.

The hiring of Pakistani and Georgian citizens for the assassination attempt is a part of an Iranian pattern of using foreign terrorist fighters to try to cover its tracks.

Two people, one with dual Iranian-Georgian citizenship and another who is a citizen of Pakistan, were arrested in connection to the attempted crime and an Iranian organizer of the attempted murder was identified.

The assassination plot

“Before arriving in Georgia, the Pakistani citizen was given the necessary instruction and was given information about the object of the murder,” the security service statement reads. “Later, the mentioned person arrived in Georgia through a third country, where he was met with a rented apartment and given the means of conspiracy connection.”

The Pakistani citizen followed the intended victim while receiving instructions from abroad.

Dual Iranian-Georgian citizens residing in Georgia delivered weapons to the Pakistani hit man without meeting him directly; rather, they used hiding places for the arms.

The authorities seized firearms and ammunition as part of the investigation, as well as phones, on which they found information about the planning of the murder and the location of the hiding places.

"Thanks to the actions of Georgian security forces, the plan was revealed and the threat was removed," an Israeli security source said. "After the plot was uncovered in Georgia, their security forces worked with the Israeli intelligence community."

The security source added that Iran has planned terrorist attacks in Georgia in the past, including in 2021-2022, and this is not the first time Itzik Moshe was targeted. Among those working on the attempted attacks was Shahram Poursafi, of the Quds Force, who was charged with attempting to murder former US national security adviser John Bolton.

"The connection between Iran and Al Qaeda is not new," the source commented. "This attempted terrorist attack once again shows the close and years-long connection between [them], specifically the use Tehran makes of the terrorist organization, including hosting its members on Iranian soil, to advance attacks on innocent civilians while trying to hide its direct involvement."

The National Security Council said that there is no new travel warning for Georgia. An NSC source said that this is because travel warnings are meant for the broader public and this attack was against a specific Israeli.

Past Iranian assassination attempts against Israelis

The news from Georgia came months after Israeli and Turkish intelligence worked together to that an Iranian plot to assassinate Israeli tourists in Istanbul. Jerusalem warned Israelis not to visit Turkey in June, and soon after, Turkey arrested eight members of an Iranian cell in hotel rooms in a popular tourist district, with weapons and ammunition.

Last October, Cyprus foiled an Iranian plot to attack Israelis, including billionaire Teddy Sagi, which Tehran denied. Cypriot authorities arrested a Russian-Azeri man who had a loaded pistol with a silencer in his rented car.