Commanders and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps meet with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps plotted to assassinate Israel’s ambassador to Mexico starting late last year, but the effort was contained and there is no current threat, a US official said on Friday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the plot against the ambassador, Einat Kranz Neiger, was active through the first half of this year.

“The plot was contained and does not pose a current threat,” the official told Reuters. “This is just the latest in a long history of Iran’s global lethal targeting of diplomats, journalists, dissidents, and anyone who disagrees with them, something that should deeply worry every country where there is an Iranian presence.”

The official declined to say how the plot was foiled or offer more details about the operation.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement, thanked the security and law enforcement services in Mexico for “thwarting a terrorist network directed by Iran that sought to attack Israel’s ambassador in Mexico.”

Iran’s mission to the UN in New York declined to comment.

The United States and its allies have frequently alleged that Iran and its proxies have sought to launch violent attacks against Tehran’s opponents. Iranian officials have rejected the allegations, saying they are politically motivated.

Security services in Britain and Sweden warned last year that Tehran was using criminal proxies to carry out violent attacks in those countries, with London saying it had disrupted 20 Iran-linked plots since 2022.

A dozen other countries have condemned what they called a surge in assassination, kidnapping, and harassment plots by Iranian intelligence services.

Britain’s domestic spy chief, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum, said last month that Iran was “frantically” trying to silence its critics around the world, and cited how Australia had exposed Iranian involvement in antisemitic plots and Dutch authorities had revealed a failed assassination attempt.

Israel has long been an Iranian target and particularly so after the Israelis engaged in an air war with Iran that included US bombers attacking Iranian nuclear sites in June.