Iran says, Belgium arrests are plot to sabotage Rouhani Europe visit

Dubai/Vienna: Iran said on Tuesday it could show it had nothing to do with an alleged plot to bomb an Iranian opposition meeting in France, as Austria said it was stripping an Iranian of his diplomatic status after he was arrested in Germany as part of the case.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said two suspects in Belgium were in fact members of the an umbrella bloc of opposition groups in exile.
"The detainees in Belgium are known members of this terrorist organization and Iranian authorities ... are prepared to provide the necessary documentation to clarify the dimensions of this scenario," said Qasemi, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.
Two suspects in Belgium were intercepted by Belgian police on Saturday with 500 grams of the homemade explosive TATP and a detonation device found in their car, Belgian authorities said.
French officials have declined to comment on the case saying the nature of the incident is unclear and extremely sensitive.
After the withdrawal of the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, its European signatories Britain, France and Germany have vowed to save the agreement despite US pushing them to pullout.
Any sign Iranian authorities were behind the plot in France would make it politically complicated for leaders, especially President Emmanuel Macron, to continue to back the deal.
Rouhani was in Switzerland on Tuesday and is due to visit Austria.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry said earlier on Tuesday it was stripping the diplomatic status of 46-year-old Iranian diplomat, Assadollah A, who was arrested in Germany, suspected of having been in contact with the two arrested in Belgium.
Qasemi rejected as baseless the allegations against the diplomat.
Three other people were also arrested in France in connection with the case, two of whom were released.
"The Iranian diplomat will be denied diplomatic status within 48 hours because of the existence of a European arrest warrant," Austria's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador on Monday to help clarify the situation around the diplomat's arrest, it said.
According to an Austrian government website, he was third consul at the embassy.