France holds Iranian funds, raids groups over alleged plot

French authorities on Tuesday froze the assets of the internal security section of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry as well as those of two Iranians, and all but pointed a finger at Tehran as the force behind an alleged plot to bomb an Iranian exile group’s rally near Paris.

Police also raided the headquarters of a Muslim religious association in northern France, seizing weapons and detaining three people. The building houses a Shiite federation, an anti-zionist party and other groups. The assets of the groups and their leaders were frozen as well.

A joint statement by France’s interior, economy and foreign ministers made clear the six-month freeze on the Intelligence Ministry’s internal security section was linked to the alleged attempt to bomb the June 30 rally outside Paris of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, or MEK.

“An attempted attack was thwarted,” the statement said. “This act of an extreme gravity envisioned on our territory could not go without a response.”

The ministers called the action “preventative, targeted and proportionate.” The statement did not explain what funds might be in France.

In the second move, authorities froze the assets of Centre Zahra France, a Muslim association in the town of Grandesynthe, outside Dunkirk, as well as those of three organizations and four men linked to the groups.