The US Department of Justice has announced that Ruhollah Bazghandi, a member of the Revolutionary Guards, led a murder-for-hire plot to kill dissident Masih Alinejad.
The US Department of Justice has formally charged a senior Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) official with involvement in a plot to kill an Iranian-American dissident in New York City in 2022.
Charges of murder-for-hire and money laundering against Ruhollah Bazghandi and three other Iranian nationals were revealed on Tuesday as part of a revised indictment clarifying the alleged scheme.
The Justice Department did not name the alleged target of the plot, but Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad acknowledged that she was a potential victim.
“The revelation that the assassination plot against me in July 2022 was orchestrated by Ali Khamenei’s Revolutionary Guards is a sign that the Islamic regime is trying to silence dissidents, even far beyond Iran’s borders. “It’s a stark reminder that even those who exist will be brutally silenced,” she said. Supreme leader of Iran.
The Justice Department indicted several people last year on charges of attempting to kill Mr. Alinejad. One of the suspects, Khalid Mehdiyev, was arrested outside his home with a rifle.
According to the indictment, Bazghandi and other Iranian officials contracted with members of an Eastern European criminal organization to kill Alinejad.
U.S. authorities say Bazghandi and three other Iranian nationals based in Iran remain at large.
The Justice Department said Bazghandi was “a brigadier general of the Revolutionary Guards and previously served as the head of the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization (IRGC-IO).”
“We will not tolerate efforts by authoritarian regimes like Iran to undermine the fundamental rights guaranteed to all Americans,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Tuesday.
Alinejad has been an outspoken critic of the Iranian government and its treatment of women, including enforcing the country’s hijab mandate.
In 2021, U.S. prosecutors also indicted four Iranians suspected of being agents for plotting to kidnap Alinejad.
At the time, the Iranian government dismissed allegations of involvement in the kidnapping plot as “ridiculous and baseless.”
Since the start of the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 42,700 Palestinians, Alinejad has pushed to portray Hamas as an Iranian proxy and called for an end to Tehran’s current system of governance. It’s here.
Tuesday’s accusations come amid major tensions in the region over expected attacks on Iran by Israel, the United States’ biggest ally in the region.
US President Joe Biden has indicated he is aware of when and how an attack by Israel could occur. U.S. officials previously declared “serious consequences” for Iran’s Oct. 1 rocket attack on Israel.
Iran targeted Israeli military bases in response to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian generals in Beirut.
