Denmark has recalled its ambassador to Iran after it accused Tehran of plotting to kill three Iranian dissidents living in the Scandinavian country.
Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen and Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen on Tuesday both called the alleged Iranian attack in Denmark "totally unacceptable."
"I have decided to recall Denmark's ambassador in Tehran for consultations. Denmark can in no way accept that people with ties to Iran's intelligence service plot attacks against people in Denmark," Samuelsen told reporters.
Iranian Ambassador to Denmark Morteza Moradian has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen and it was made "crystal clear" to him that "the gravity of the matter is difficult to describe," Samuelsen said, adding he was consulting with "partners and allies," including the European Union, about possible sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said in a statement that Tehran "strongly denied" the allegations, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
A police operation last month that briefly cut off Copenhagen from the rest of Denmark stemmed from an alleged Iranian plot to kill an opposition activist, the head of Denmark's intelligence agency said Tuesday while announcing a suspect's arrest.
A Norwegian citizen of Iranian descent was arrested Oct. 21 on suspicion of helping an unspecified Iranian intelligence service "to act in Denmark" and of alleged involvement in the assassination plot, Danish Security and Intelligence Service Director Finn Borch Andersen said.
The suspect was seen taking photos of the residences of members of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA) in Ringsted, a town some 37 miles southwest of Copenhagen, he said.
The suspect has denied wrongdoing and is being held in pretrial custody until Nov. 8, Borch Andersen said. He did not name the Norwegian.
"This is a case that entails an Iranian intelligence operation in Denmark, In our view, it was an Iranian intelligence agency's plan to assassinate a person who lives in Denmark," he said.
Tehran has blamed ASMLA for a terrorist attack on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz on Sept. 22 that left at least 25 people dead. ASMLA condemned the violence and said it was not involved.
The Iranian government summoned Denmark's ambassador after the attack and accused the Danish government of harboring members of the "terrorist group."
