Georgia Says Plot To Kill Israeli Citizen By IRGC Foiled

The murder had been planned by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Quds Force which conducts overseas operations of the IRGC.

The plan was to kill Itzik Moshe, a businessman who worked to advance Israel-Georgia ties.

The State Security Service of Georgia released a statement on Tuesday saying the man planning the attack has been arrested, and the one who apparently ordered the murder is identified as an Iranian national working outside Georgia.

The security agency also said several people were arrested in the course of the investigation, including Georgians who held dual citizenship with Iran or Pakistan.

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

The news from Georgia came months after Israeli and Turkish intelligence agencies worked together to stop 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.