An Iranian diplomat has been convicted of a plot to bomb a big French rally held by an exiled opposition group. Assadollah Assadi, 49, who worked at the Iranian embassy in Vienna, was given a 20-year jail term by the court in Antwerp in Belgium. It was the first time an Iranian official had faced such charges in the EU since the 1979 revolution. Three others were also convicted. They were arrested during a joint operation by German, French and Belgian police.

Tehran insists the plot was a fabrication. Tens of thousands of people attended the June 2018 rally outside Paris, including Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The verdict comes weeks after US President Joe Biden took office, with Iran hoping he will reverse some of the sanctions introduced by his predecessor. France blamed Iran’s intelligence ministry for the planned attack and responded by freezing the assets of two senior Iranian officials.