1ST LEAD France freezes Iranian assets over alleged bomb plot against exiles By Pol O Gradaigh, dpa

Paris (dpa) - French authorities Tuesday froze the assets of two Iranian citizens and of a division of the country‘s Intelligence Ministry, ministers said in Paris.The move was in response to an alleged Iranian plot to bomb a meeting of an exiled Iranian opposition movement near Paris earlier this year, France‘s foreign affairs, interior and economy ministers said in a joint statement.It came a day after a German court approved the extradition to Belgium of an Austrian-based Iranian diplomat accused of being the mastermind of the alleged plot.Iran has denied any link to the bomb plot and has repeatedly called for the release of the diplomat, identified under German privacy rules as Asadollah A.The target of the alleged plot was a June 30 meeting linked to the banned opposition People‘s Mujahedin or Mujahedin-e Khalq in the Paris suburb of Villepinte, which had 25,000 attendees.Belgian authorities said at the time that their special forces arrested a Belgian couple, of Iranian origin, with explosives that they were suspected of planning to use in an attack on the meeting.The diplomat was accused of tasking the couple to carry out the attack and providing the explosives.The French ministers said the asset freeze applied to Iranian citizens Assadollah Asadi and Saeid Hashemi Moghadam and to the internal security directorate of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.The move was "without prejudice" to criminal proceedings in the case, they added.The "foiled attack at Villepinte confirms the need for a demanding approach in our relations with Iran," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.The asset freeze was announced hours after French authorities searched premises linked to a Shiite Muslim association with apparent Iranian sympathies in northern France.Three people were held for questioning on suspicion of illegal possession of weapons.There was no indication, however, that that operation was linked to the Villepinte affair.The alleged bomb plot has troubled relations between European states and the Islamic Republic just as the former are trying to preserve a 2015 deal over Iran‘s nuclear programme.US President Donald Trump earlier this year pulled out of the deal, under which Iran agreed to strict conditions aimed at ensuring its nuclear activities could not lead to weapons production in return for the lifting of international sanctions.Despite EU calls for Iran to continue to benefit economically as long as it upholds its end of the deal, a succession of European firms have pulled out of Iran fearing US sanctions.