The Danish government recalled the Iranian ambassador and accused the intelligence services of the Islamic Republic of organizing an operation to assassinate an individual on Danish soil. Danish government officials also said that Copenhagen will seek to impose further economic and diplomatic sanctions on Tehran, in coordination with the European Union. The allegations against Iran were disclosed during a press conference in the Danish capital, led by Anders Samuelsen, the Danish foreign minister, and Finn Borch Andersen, director of the Danish security and intelligence service, known as PET.
The two senior Danish representatives said that "an Iranian intelligence agency" had planned "an attack on Danish soil". Defense Minister Samuelsen condemned the suspicious activity calling it "completely unacceptable". PET director Andersen said a Norwegian citizen of Iranian descent had been arrested in Sweden on 21 October and was now in custody pending extradition to Denmark. The arrested man is an Iranian intelligence employee, Andersen said, and was discovered conducting surveillance activities against a prominent member of the Iranian separatist group. The alleged target was a member of the Arab Struggle for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), a separatist group operating underground for a separate homeland in favor of Iran's Arab minority. About 2% of Iranians (around 1,5 million people) belong to the country's ethnic Arab population. Many of them are concentrated in Khuzestan, a region in the oil-rich southwest of Iran that borders neighboring Iraq. Some of these ethnic Arabs seek autonomy from Tehran, which they see as an alien regime. ASMLA represents the militant wing of Iran's separatist Arab community and has a history of terrorist attacks in Iran. Last September, the group claimed responsibility for an armed attack on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz - a major urban center in Iran's Arabic-speaking region - which killed 24 people, including some women and children. Subsequently, however, a representative of the group withdrew the claim of the attack.
However, several Iranian officials have denied the Danish government's heavy allegations. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi dismissed Denmark's accusations as "spurious". Accusations described as "a plot by Iranian enemies to damage Tehran's growing relations with European countries". Earlier this month, France seized the financial resources of individuals described as Iranian spies after accusing Tehran of foiling a bomb attack in Paris. The investigation then led to the arrest of six people in France, Germany and Belgium, who allegedly planned to carry out an attack last June against the annual conference of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). NCRI is led by Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a militant group with roots in radical Islam and Marxism, which Iran considers a terrorist organization.