France suspects that a pro-Iranian group known as HAYI is behind a foiled attack on the Paris offices of Bank of America. The anti-terrorism prosecutor said this on Wednesday, stressing that the link had not yet been officially established, Reuters reported.
HAYI, an acronym for Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, or the Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand of Islam, posted a video on social media on March 23 targeting Jewish interests and communities in France and Europe, the prosecutor's office said in a statement to Reuters.
It added that the video specifically mentioned the headquarters of Bank of America in Paris, located in the 8th arrondissement of the French capital.
"In light of the aforementioned video targeting this American bank and the modus operandi observed in similar operations in several European countries, this attack... appears to be linked to the HAYI group, although this has not yet been officially established at this stage of the proceedings," the prosecutor said. prosecutors.
The group - unknown until a series of attacks across Europe against American, Israeli and Jewish targets for which it claimed responsibility - appears to be new. Security sources say it appears to be using a model previously linked to Iran to recruit criminal groups or petty criminals to carry out attacks.
"After the failed Iranian intelligence bomb plot in Paris in 2018, the Iranians turned to paid criminal gangs to carry out incidents, making it harder to trace back to Tehran, a senior Western diplomat said. These operations target opponents and Jewish-linked elements. There are many of them across Europe. "We expect Iran to now start activating these networks," the diplomat said.
French authorities have not yet identified a new threat, but the scenario is plausible, two security sources told Reuters.
The Iranian embassy in France did not immediately respond to a request for comment and declined to comment over the weekend on remarks by French Interior Minister Laurent Nunes suggesting possible Iranian involvement.
The device used in the foiled March 28 attack was the most powerful pyrotechnic device of its kind identified in France so far, according to Paris police, she added.
Four suspects, three minors and one adult, are being formally investigated, prosecutors said. A fifth person was released due to lack of evidence.
Investigators established through surveillance footage, phone records and police interviews that the adult recruited the three teenagers between the nights of March 26 and 27, paying them between 500 and 1,000 euros to plant the device, set it on fire and film the crime scene, the prosecutor's office said.
All four suspects denied terrorist intent, although the minors admitted they knew the target was not a residential building, the statement said.
French anti-terrorism prosecutors said they were working with colleagues in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands on what they called HAYI-related attacks across Europe in March.
Investigators' priority now is to identify the organizers of the attack, prosecutors said.