France probes possible Iran link after bomb attack foiled outside Bank of America

PARIS (AP) — French authorities are investigating a suspected link to Iran after thwarting a bomb attack outside a Bank of American building in Paris on the weekend, the interior minister said Monday.

The authorities suspect there could be a link to Iran due to similarities to other recent attempted attacks in Europe which a pro-Iran group claimed credit for, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said.

On Saturday morning, Paris police officers spotted two suspects carrying a shopping bag near the premises of the Bank of America in the 8th arrondissement of the French capital. Three suspects have since been arrested and the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into alleged terrorism-related offenses.

Authorities are making a “direct link” with Iran because the “modus operandi is in every respect similar to actions that have been carried out in the Netherlands and in Belgium,” Nuñez said on French radio RTL on Monday morning.

In those cases there were claims by a pro-Iranian group that “linked them to the conflict” in the Middle-East, he said.

The group, known on Telegram under the name Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, which translates as the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, also claimed responsibility for an attack last week in London, where four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity were set on fire.

“Typically, intelligence services of this country (Iran) operate in this way: they use proxies, a series of subcontractors, often common criminals, to carry out highly targeted actions aimed at U.S. interests, the interests of the Jewish community, or Iranian opposition figures,” Nuñez said.

Nuñez said French authorities have stepped up security around key personalities and sites since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran on Feb. 28, including the personal protection of some figures from the Iranian opposition.