America's chief foreign negotiator has a message for Iran: stop assassinating people.

The problem is, nobody from security experts to Iranian dissidents has any idea what the hell he means.

The Guardian picks up the story:

Mike Pompeo's claim that the Iran's Revolutionary Guard is carrying out 'assassination operations in the heart of Europe' has bewildered security experts and Iranian exiles, who say they are not aware of any evidence for the allegation.

The new US secretary of state referred to the alleged assassinations in his first major speech on Monday, but devoted just a single line to it amid a litany of criticisms of Iranian behaviour, giving no further details. 

'Today, the Iranian Quds Force conducts covert assassination operations in the heart of Europe,' Pompeo said, referring to the external operations arm of the Islamic revolutionary guards corps (IRGC).

Experts told The Guardian there haven't been any assassinations in which Iran is even considered a suspect, since the early 1990s.

Even the State Department's spokeswoman was dumbfounded (which admittedly, is not a rare occurrence):

Asked about Pompeo's statement, the state department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said: 'He has information and access to information that I do not. I am not able to comment on that in particular but I can tell the secretary has assured me that there is a basis for that point in his speech and he stands firmly behind that.'

US diplomats specialising in Iran were taken by surprise by Pompeo's allegations.

The startling charge comes at the same time as Pompeo's announcement of a list of 12 impudent demands on Iran, most of which have almost no connection to geo-political reality.

Maybe Pompeo has spent too much time on the phone with Bibi Netanyahu lately, and accidentally confused the ongoing killing and abduction activities of Israel's secret service, Mossad, with those of Iran.

Just last month, on April 21, 2018, a Palestinian engineer named Fadi al-Batashwas shot 14 times and left for dead in Kuala Lumpur. Two suspects of "light skinned, European appearance" sped away on a motorcycle. Mossad is widely suspected.

On December 17, 2016, Palestinian aviation engineer Mohamed Zaouari was murdered in Tunisia, a killing the Palestinian militant group Hamas blamed on Mossad.

On December 21, 2015, Israel killed 12 people in Damascus, including two Iranian intelligence officers, and several members of the Lebanese group Hizbollah.