ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday condemned the statement by the Group of Seven (G7) members that accused Tehran of “transnational repression” of political opponents, calling the allegations “baseless”.

The G7 Rapid Response Mechanism members (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union) on Friday issued a statement “condemning transnational repression and other malign activities by Iran.” 

“Iranian intelligence services have increasingly attempted to kill, kidnap and harass political opponents abroad,” read the G7 statement. “Other malign activities include operations to obtain and disclose the personal information of journalists and attacks designed to divide societies and intimidate Jewish communities.”

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the accusations on Sunday, describing the G7 charges as “baseless, irresponsible, and pure deflection.”

“The fabrication of unfounded accusations” against the Iranian intelligence agency “is a blatant distortion of reality and a deceitful attempt by the authors of such statements,” said the ministry, accusing G7 of carrying out its own “illegal and destabilizing actions across various regions.”

Tehran has long faced accusations of pursuing kidnapping and assassination policies across Europe and North America, aimed at silencing dissidents and outspoken critics. 

Iran has been also accused by human rights groups of detaining dual nationals to use as leverage in international negotiations.

In late August Australia accused Iran of being behind at least two anti-Semitic attacks in recent years, expelling Tehran’s ambassador, and announced plans to push legislation that would blacklist Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group.

In July, the G7 issued a similar statement condemning Iran over the same allegations.