Pro-Iran groups behind foiled attack on Bank of America in Paris, FBI finds

Police stationed in front of the Bank of America branch in Paris, on March 28, 2026. SEBASTIEN DUPUY/AFP The homemade bomb left outside Bank of America's Paris branch, in the city's 8 th arrondissement, by French teenagers on the night of March 27, was, in fact, an operation orchestrated by pro-Iran groups. This was one conclusion of investigations conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which the United States agency shared with French anti-terrorism judges via a letter rogatory dated July 29.

The two minors were caught by a police patrol as they attempted to light an improvised explosive device, which experts described as having "very high power," outside the American bank's Paris office. They said an intermediary had recruited them to light the device in exchange for a few hundred euros, and they were unaware that, in doing so, they were committing a terrorist act. Read more Subscribers only The strange foiled attack on Bank of America in Paris: 'He said if the kids pulled off the job, there'd be many more' According to a police report, French investigators were informed, in May, by their American counterparts that an Iraqi national, identified as the mastermind behind the attempted terrorist attack, had been arrested in Turkey.

Based on the FBI's investigations, the man, identified by the name Mohammad A.-S., was suspected of having orchestrated 18 attacks or planned attacks on European soil between March and May. These attacks were aimed at either American interests or targets linked to the Jewish community, in response to the military offensive the US and Israel launched against Iran in February. You have 78.3% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.