The United States and Israel have accused Iran of orchestrating a plot to assassinate Israel’s ambassador to Mexico, Einat Kranz-Neiger, in what officials describe as part of a global campaign by Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards to target Israeli and Western diplomats.
Iran has dismissed the allegations as a “great big lie,” while Mexican authorities say they have received no official information about such a plot.
According to U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity, the plan was hatched by the Quds Force, the elite foreign-operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in late 2024 and disrupted earlier this year.
The officials claim Iranian operatives sought to recruit assets through Iran’s embassy in Venezuela, a country that maintains close military and intelligence ties with Tehran under President Nicolás Maduro.
“This is just the latest in a long history of Iran’s lethal operations against diplomats, dissidents, and journalists worldwide,” a U.S. official said, calling the alleged conspiracy “a warning sign for every country hosting an Iranian mission.”
Israel’s government credited Mexican intelligence and security agencies with “neutralizing” the threat, but Mexico’s foreign ministry countered that it had “received no information” about such an incident.
The country’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection offered a carefully worded statement expressing readiness to cooperate “respectfully and within the framework of national sovereignty.”
Ambassador Kranz-Neiger, questioned by Mexican media about the contradiction, said she was “unaware of the reasons for Mexico’s denial,” but added that “those who acted to neutralize this threat were Mexican authorities.”
Iran’s embassy in Mexico responded sharply on X, accusing Washington and Tel Aviv of fabricating the claim to damage “the friendly and historic relations between Mexico and Iran.”
The alleged plot underscores how far the Israel-Iran shadow war has spilled beyond the Middle East. It reportedly followed Israel’s April 2024 airstrike on Iran’s embassy complex in Damascus, which killed several senior Quds Force commanders.
Tehran vowed revenge, and months later, Israel launched a major retaliatory campaign inside Iran that killed more than 1,000 people and struck nuclear sites in coordinated raids with U.S. forces.
The assassination claim also comes amid a surge in regional escalation tied to Israel’s war in Gaza, where Iran-backed groups such as Hezbollah and the Houthis have opened new fronts.
Western intelligence agencies believe Tehran has expanded covert operations globally, targeting Israeli, Jewish, and Western interests.
Australia recently expelled Iran’s ambassador after accusing Tehran of involvement in two arson attacks on Jewish sites in Sydney and Melbourne.
Latin America, too, carries painful precedent: the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center, which killed 85 people, was blamed on Hezbollah operatives acting at Iran’s direction.
For now, Mexican officials are publicly distancing themselves from the geopolitical dispute, wary of being drawn into the widening Israel-Iran confrontation.
But if U.S. and Israeli claims are confirmed, the alleged plot would mark a chilling new chapter in Iran’s shadow campaign — one that has now reached the heart of the Western Hemisphere.
