Among the individuals who will be freed from international sanctions under the terms of the nuclear deal between Iran and the West is Anis Naccache, a former lieutenant of of legendary terrorist Carlos the Jackal and attempted assassin of Shahpour Bakhtiar, Iran’s last Shah-era prime minister. Bakhtiar’s nephew, Hooman Bakhtiar, criticized this in an op-ed (Google link) Sunday in The Wall Street Journal.
The shah had attempted to stay in power by appointing the older Bakhtiar, a critic of the Shah, to serve as his prime minister in the waning days of his rule. After the shah fell, Bakhtiar told Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, to return to his religious duties instead of governing. According to the younger Bakhtiar, “Khomeini never forgave” his uncle, who was forced to flee into exile in Paris. Naccache led a team to kill Bakhtiar in Paris.
But the attempt on Bakhtiar’s life went awry. Mr. Naccache and his team first killed a police officer posted in the building. But they got the wrong apartment door, shooting and killing an elderly French woman and wounding her sister. Unable to break down Bakhtiar’s door, they escaped and were confronted by more French police. In the ensuing firefight the terrorists shot another officer, paralyzing him for life. Mr. Naccache and three accomplices were convicted of murder and handed life sentences in 1982. A fifth team member received a 20-year sentence.
Iran worked to free Naccache, with an associated terrorist group launching of a series of bombings in Paris demanding Naccache’s freedom. Hezbollah kidnapped 16 French nationals in Lebanon for the same reason. In 1990 France released Naccache after their hostages were freed. In 1991, another Iranian attempt to kill Bakhtiar was successful.
Today Anis Naccache describes himself as a businessman. According to a 2003 filing with Iran’s corporate registry, he serves as chairman of the board of the Bazargani Tejarat Tavanmand Saccal company. As a longtime friend of Hezbollah’s terror mastermind Imad Mughniyah—who was assassinated in 2008—Mr. Naccache also became a trusted conduit to Tehran’s terror outpost on the Mediterranean.
In 2008 the European Union determined that Mr. Naccache was linked to Iran’s nuclear-proliferation activities—identifying his association with the same Bazargani Tejarat Tavanmand Saccal firm in its designation. Brussels added him to a sanctions list due to his alleged role in Iran’s nuclear program, not his terrorist past.
The European Union will nonetheless lift sanctions on Naccache as part of the nuclear deal.
General Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—Qods Force, will also have EU and United Nations sanctions on him lifted as part of the nuclear deal. Suleimani has advised and commanded Shiite militias in Iraq, and has been at the forefront of those supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Retired American general Michael Barbero called the lifting of sanctions on Suleimani a “shameful betrayal” of American troops.
[Photo: Syrian Heart / YouTube ]