'Ridiculous': Iran rejects US claim of plot to kill Israeli envoy in Mexico

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday rejected US allegations that it had plotted to assassinate the Israeli ambassador in Mexico, calling the accusation “baseless and absurd.”

"We found this claim very ridiculous and absurd," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press briefing, adding that it was part of an attempt to destroy Iran's friendly relations with other countries.

Following Washington's accusation on Friday of the assassination attempt, Israel's foreign ministry thanked Mexican authorities "for thwarting a terrorist network directed by Iran".

But Mexico's foreign ministry later said it had "received no information" on the alleged plot, and Iran's embassy in Mexico called it "a great big lie".

A US official alleged that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force initiated the plot in late 2024 and that it was disrupted earlier this year.

The alleged plot involved recruiting operatives through Iran's embassy in Venezuela, whose leftist president, Nicolas Maduro, maintains a tactical alliance with Tehran.

"The entire matter was fabricated," Baqaei said on Monday.

In mid-June, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, triggering a 12-day war during which the US briefly joined with strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

A ceasefire between Iran and Israel has been in place since June 24.