Several dozen people are being monitored by intelligence services on French soil on suspicion of links to Iranian networks and Lebanese Hezbollah. Of these, 15 are under particularly close surveillance, according to information obtained by BFMTV.
Heightened monitoring
Dozens of individuals are being tracked by intelligence services across the country on suspicion of belonging to Iranian networks and Lebanese Hezbollah. Of these, 15 are under especially close watch, BFMTV has learned from security sources. This surveillance comes in the wake of Saturday 28 March, when an attack was foiled outside the Bank of America headquarters on Rue de la Boétie in Paris. The Interior Minister drew a direct “connection” to the war in the Middle East during a live interview on Saturday evening, as three suspects were arrested and placed in police custody.
Local criminals recruited as operatives
Among the Iranian networks under particular scrutiny is the Al-Quds Force — the elite unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — which recruits local criminals for its overseas operations. In France, a member of the DZ Mafia was, for instance, recruited through an intermediary to set fire to premises belonging to Israel-linked companies, near Toulouse and Lyon, in early 2024.
This surveillance also runs parallel to the protection measures put in place for around a dozen Iranian dissidents, who have been placed under police protection since the outbreak of the war, according to BFMTV’s sources.
