Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, called the accusations “baseless” and said they were “an attempt to divert public attention from the most pressing issue of the day, the genocide in occupied Palestine.”

In a joint statement released Thursday, the governments of the United States, Britain, France, and Germany denounced “the increasing number of state threats from Iranian intelligence services in our respective territories.”

They declared, “We are united in our opposition to Iranian intelligence services’ attempts to abduct, kill, and harass individuals in North America and Europe in blatant violation of our sovereignty.”

In order to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish individuals, and current and former authorities in North America and Europe, these services are increasingly working with international criminal organizations.

“Blatant fabrications… designed as part of a malicious Iranophobia campaign aimed at exerting pressure on the great Iranian nation,” Baqaei stated of the claims.