Iranian Operative Arrested in Peru

Peru's anti-terrorist police have captured an Iranian man allegedly linked to an elite force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and accused of planning an attack against an Israeli businessman.

Police in Peru announced the arrest of an Iranian citizen who was purportedly a member of Iran's Quds Force and allegedly planned to kill an Israeli citizen in the South American country.

Gen. Óscar Arriola, Peru's police chief, said in a press conference that Majid Azizi, 56, was arrested in Lima, along with two Peruvian citizens.

Arriola said authorities thwarted the attack against the Israeli. He did not identify the intended target for security reasons. Police are still looking for a third Peruvian they think was in charge of the plot to kill the Israeli man, he said.

Arriola said Azizi entered Lima on March 3, and they were alerted about him by foreign intelligence offices.

Iranian authorities did not comment, and Iranian state media did not acknowledge the arrest.

Iran has run intelligence operations in South America in the past, particularly through the expeditionary Quds, or Jerusalem, Force of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Iran maintains close ties to Venezuela. The Quds Force was linked to an impounded Boeing 747 in Argentina and later seized by the United States. And most notoriously, Argentina believes Iran was behind the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center that killed 85 people.

Arriola said Azizi was captured after withdrawing money from an ATM and, along with the two Peruvians arrested, will remain in prison for an initial 15 days under terrorism charges.

The general said the man intended to return to Iran the same day he was captured.

Azizi is married to a Peruvian woman, he added.

This is the first time Peruvian authorities have announced the arrest of an alleged member of that group.