Iranian intelligence services are systematically outsourcing terrorist attacks to international criminal organizations, using drug cartels, biker gangs, and local criminals as proxies to target Jewish communities, Israeli interests, and Iranian dissidents worldwide, according to intelligence reports, government documents, and The Press Service of Israel’s interviews.

The strategy reflects a deliberate shift by Tehran to maintain plausible deniability while expanding its shadow war against Israel and Jewish communities. Recent arrests and foiled plots from North America to Germany to Australia reveal how the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence recruit criminals-for-hire to carry out surveillance, assassinations, and terror attacks.

Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador in August 2025 after confirming that the IRGC had ordered arson attacks on Jewish institutions in Sydney and Melbourne.