The 2012 attacks on Israeli diplomats occurred on 13 February 2012 after a bomb explosion on an Israeli diplomatic car in New Delhi, India, wounding one embassy staff member, a local employee and two passers-by. Another bomb planted in a car in

Tbilisi, Georgia Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

failed to explode and was defused by Georgian police.

Background

In the preceding months there had been an escalating war of words between Israel and Iran. On 12 February 2012, the Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Azeri ambassador to complain against a report in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' that

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

had used Azerbaijan as a base for covert operations against Iran.

Incidents

Azerbaijan

On 25 January 2012, Azerbaijani authorities detained three individuals who they suspected of plotting to attack the country's Israeli ambassador, Michael Lotem. The alleged plotters were identified as being connected to an Iranian citizen who had ties to Iranian intelligence. The President of Israel

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

thanked Azerbaijan's President

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...

for thwarting the operation.

India

A motorcyclist attached a

sticky bomb The "Grenade, Hand, Anti-Tank No. 74", commonly known as the S.T. grenade or simply sticky bomb, was a British hand grenade designed and produced during the Second World War. The grenade was one of a number of anti-tank weapons developed for u ...

to the car of the wife of the Israeli

defence attache Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

to India while she was on her way to pick up her children from school. The woman, Tal Yehoshua Koren, sustained moderate injuries that required surgery to remove shrapnel while her driver and two bystanders suffered minor injuries. An Indian journalist, Syed Mohammad Ahmed Kazmi, was charge-sheeted in the case. His judicial custody was extended until 9 August 2012, the day slated by the court to consider to take cognizance of the charge sheet.

Georgia

A car parked from the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi was discovered to have a bomb after a local driver for the embassy heard a noise while he was driving. He pulled over to side of the road and discovered a bomb underneath his car. He then alerted the

Georgian police Law enforcement in Georgia is conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. Currently, there are more than 42,000 registered police officers. History The Georgian police introduced an 022 emergency dispatch service in 2004. As of 2 ...

, who defused the bomb.

Thailand

Investigation

Indian Home Minister

P. Chidambaram Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), better known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee o ...

said that the use of

RDX RDX (Research Department Explosive or Royal Demolition Explosive) or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (CH2N2O2)3. It is white, odorless, and tasteless, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified ...

was ruled out (which had previously been used in other attacks in India) and that no one was accused until investigations were over. He added that those who perpetrated the attacks would be brought to justice.

Delhi Police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Delhi Police falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. In 2024, the sanctioned strength of Delhi Police w ...

had detained five people after the incident, but they were released after questioning. Indian authorities looked at

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

footage for images of the perpetrator. On 7 March 2012,

arrested Indian journalist Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi who claimed to work for an Iranian news organisation. The police claimed that he had conducted a

recce In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

of the Israeli embassy along with three other Iranian nationals, one of whom executed the blast. They also claimed that he was in touch with the mastermind of the module, Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, and that Kazmi's wife received foreign remittances of ₹18.785 lakh through her bank account while Kazmi received ₹3,80,000(US$4600) from the module. On 3 April 2012, his bail petition was dismissed by a Court of Metropolitan Magistrate. The court cited prima facie evidence and large scale international ramifications to be among the reasons to dismiss his petition. On 10 April 2012,

Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation Directorate may refer to: Contemporary *Directorates of the Scottish Government * Directorate-General, a type of specialised administrative body in the European Union * Directorate-General for External Security, the French external intelligence ag ...

and

Enforcement Directorate The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is a law enforcement and economic intelligence agency of the Government of India. Established on 1 May 1956, it is responsible for enforcing economic laws and combating financial crimes. The ED operates under th ...

registered a

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

case under

Prevention of Money Laundering Act Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of India enacted by the Indian Government to prevent money-laundering, money laundering and to provide for confiscation of property deri ...

against Kazmi. However, his relatives refuted all allegations. On 31 July 2012, Kazmi was

chargesheet In policing on the Indian subcontinent, a chargesheet is prepared after first information reports (FIRs), and charges an individual for (some or all of) the crimes specified in those reports. Once the chargesheet has been submitted to a cour ...

ed. He was charged under various provisions of

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an Indian law aimed at the prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sover ...

(UAPA),

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the official criminal code of the Republic of India, inherited from British India after independence. It remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in December 2023 ...

(IPC) including attempt to murder and

Explosive Substances Act An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

. In July 2012, the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' reported that

concluded that terrorists belonging to a branch of Iran's military, the

Iranian Revolutionary Guards The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khomeini as a military branch in May 1979 i ...

, were responsible for the attack. According to the report, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards may have planned other attacks on Israeli targets around the world as well.

Yoram Cohen Yoram Cohen (; born 1960) is a retired State of Israel, Israeli intelligence officer who served as the Director of Shin Bet, from May 15, 2011 until May 8, 2016, when he was replaced by Nadav Argaman. Biography Cohen was born in Israel to Moshe ...

, the chief of

Shin Bet The Israel Security Agency (ISA; , (GSS); ), better known by the Hebrew acronyms, acronyms Shabak (; ; ) or Shin Bet (from the abbreviation of , "Security Service"), is Israel's internal Security agency, security service. Its motto is "''Magen ...

, said that Iranian agents were seeking revenge for covert operations, including the assassinations of Iranian scientists. Kazmi was granted bail in October 2012. As of 2016, Kazmi was still out on bail.

Reactions

* – Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

blamed

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

for both incidents. "Iran, which is behind these attacks, is the greatest exporter of terrorism in the world. The Israeli government and its security forces will continue to work together with local security services against these terrorist actions." :The

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

had also put its embassies on high alert for the anniversary of the killing of Hezbollah commander

Imad Mughniyah Imad Fayez Mughniyeh (; 7 December 1962 – 12 February 2008), also known by his nom de guerre al-Hajj Radwan (), was a Lebanese militant leader who was the founding member of Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization and number two in Hezbollah's ...

, as Hezbollah had vowed to avenge the attack by attacking Israelis overseas. * –

spokesman

Ramin Mehmanparast Ramin Mehmanparast () is an Iranian diplomat, the former spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry and the former ambassador to Poland and Lithuania. He was the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the head of the "Center for Public Diplomacy & Me ...

condemned the attacks, which it called "terrorist"; it rejected the Israeli allegation and denied responsibility for the incidents.

Aftermath

The next day another failed attempt in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

led to the injuries of four people. Though the target was not known the perpetrators were said to be Iranian. The attack was mentioned by

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, the President of the United States, as one of the terrorist attacks involving

Qasem Soleimani Qasem Soleimani (; 11 March 1957 – 3 January 2020) was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until Assassination of Qasem Soleimani, his assassination by the United States in 2020, h ...

, the

Quds Force The Quds Force () is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It specializes in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War General Stanley McChrystal describes the Quds Fo ...

commander, in his speech after the

2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike On 3 January 2020, Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, was killed by an American drone strike ordered by U.S. president Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, while travelling to meet Iraqi prime minister Adil Ab ...

References