US charges IRGC official, 3 others in plot to assassinate dissident journalist
Ex-head of Revolutionary Guard’s counterintelligence charged in updated indictment against suspects accused of trying to abduct and kill Masih Alinejad; defendants are in Iran
The United States has issued fresh charges over an attempted Tehran plot to kidnap and assassinate an Iranian-American journalist in New York, and has indicted an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official among others in the case, according to a court document on Tuesday.
Ruhollah Bazghandi and three other men were charged in the updated indictment against those accused of trying to abduct and kill Masih Alinejad.
The Iranian opposition activist and journalist has been living in exile in New York City. Her identity is not in court papers, but she confirmed to The Associated Press that she was the intended target.
Bazghandi and the other newly-charged suspects are based in Iran and remain at large, prosecutors said.
They said that Bazghandi’s internet activity, as well as that of the three other individuals whose names were unsealed on Tuesday, pointed to their involvement in multiple assassination plots.
“Today’s indictment exposes the full extent of Iran’s plot to silence an American journalist for criticizing the Iranian regime,” said US Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray.
US prosecutors have previously charged other suspects in the case, including Khalid Mehdiyev, who was arrested for having a rifle outside Alinejad’s Brooklyn home, and Rafat Amirov. Both are in US custody and have pleaded not guilty to murder-for-hire charges.
Alinejad fled Iran following the country’s disputed 2009 presidential election and went on to study in Britain before joining the staff of the US-government-backed Voice of America’s Persian-language service.
The plot against the dissident journalist came to light in 2021 when the US Department of Justice unveiled charges against four Iranian intelligence agents, who allegedly planned to kidnap her from her Brooklyn home and smuggle her back to Iran.
She said at the time that FBI agents had warned her she was being watched, and that her home was not safe. The agents showed her intimate photographs of her Brooklyn home and of her family that they said were taken by an investigator doing surveillance for the Iranians.
Bazghandi, who was previously sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, is described in court papers as a brigadier general who previously served as chief of the IRGC’s counterintelligence department.
In October 2017, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, a wing of the US Department of Treasury, designated the IRGC as a global terrorist group, saying it has played a key role in supporting Iran’s involvement in international terrorism.
In April 2023, the office said Bazghandi was involved in assassination plots against journalists, Israeli citizens and others deemed enemies of Iran, along with his participation in the detention of foreign prisoners held in Iran and involvement in operations in Syria by the Revolutionary Guard’s counterintelligence department, the indictment noted.
Bazghandi was allegedly behind an attempt to assassinate a former Israeli consul general, as well as three Israeli tourists, in Istanbul in June 2022.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.