"I was not surprised," Iran International reporter Babak Eshaghi said after a plot to kidnap and assassinate him was revealed on Saturday. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tried to lure him to Turkey and take him across the border to Iran.
"When you are considered in Tehran to be a terror organization, you behave accordingly," he told Ynet in an interview on Sunday.
According to IranWire, an opposition outlet, the IRGC devised a scheme to lure several Iran International journalists to a border region near Iran and abduct them into Iranian territory. The outlet based its report on details from the interrogation of Mohammad Hashemzadeh, a former Iranian political prisoner currently detained in Armenia.
"I've been under threat and am in contact with Israeli intelligence and security agencies. They have been keeping me updated and I consult with them before leaving the country," he said. "I trust them."
Eshaghi said this was not the first time that the Iranian regime tried to harm reporters for Iran International an outlet that is funded by Saudi Arabia. "A number of months ago, members of the regime stabbed a colleague of mine in London and a year ago, a plot to attack the building housing our newspaper was uncovered.
I received a call at home a few months back and the caller told me to lock the doors. I did and walked to the window to look outside. I saw police checking something. When I asked what was going on they told me there was a suspicious object outside. Now when we see at least five different cases of Israelis willing to work for Iran in exchange for payment, Iran could be and was behind this."
In the interview Eshaghi said he once received a message on WhatsApp from Professor Meir Litvak inviting him to a meeting, only the message came when he was sitting in a hall listening to the professor's lecture. "I spoke to him later and realized the Iranians had breached his app and were sending messages. This is a small incident. There are many more," he said.
Israelis suspected of working for Iran, at court
(Shaul Golan)
We broadcast to Iran over some 15 satellites and no one can block us," he said. "Even the most remote villages receive our transmissions using a small dish. They know that for real news, they must watch Iran International. The Iranians know this and are trying to silence us."
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
The Iran International reporter said what he had achieved over the past six years was more than most politicians were able to do over longer periods of time – to relay their messages inside Iran, directly to the people, over the regime's head. "We tell the truth about Israel and have a 40% rating."
Eshaghi said he still feels like a foreign correspondent in Israel. "I am protected by security agencies but have less access to government ministries," he said.