The US has brought new charges in connection with an attempted plot by Tehran to kidnap and kill an Iranian-American journalist in New York, targeting a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) along with others, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing a newly filed court document.
US prosecutors had already charged several individuals in the case, including one suspect in 2022 and two more in January 2023. The latest filing does not identify the intended victim, but one of the earlier suspects was arrested with a rifle outside the Brooklyn home of journalist and activist Masih Alinejad.
“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.
The IRGC officer, Ruhollah Bazghandi, was identified as a brigadier general who once led the IRGC's counterintelligence division, according to the indictment revealed in Brooklyn federal court. Bazghandi had previously been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department.
Prosecutors claim that the online activity of Bazghandi and three others, whose names were unsealed on Tuesday, implicates them in multiple assassination plots.
The newly charged individuals, including Bazghandi, are still in Iran and remain at large. However, Khalid Mehdiyev, who was arrested outside Alinejad's residence, and Rafat Amirov, another accused in the plot, are in US custody and have entered not-guilty pleas to murder-for-hire charges.
Prosecutors stated that the group had planned to lure Alinejad out of her house by asking for flowers from her garden before attacking her.
In 2023, the US accused Bazghandi of being involved in assassination plots against journalists, Israeli citizens and others deemed enemies of Iran. He was also accused of participation in the detention of foreign prisoners held in Iran and involvement in operations in Syria by the IRGC’s counterintelligence department.
In 2021, the Justice Department announced charges against four Iranian intelligence agents and a co-conspirator living in the US who allegedly plotted to kidnap Alinejad.
In August the following year, an armed man was videotaped outside of Alinejad’s New York home. The anti-regime activist later said she had been home alone at the time of the incident, and only had her "voice" as a means of self-defense against the Islamic Regime's attempts to silence her.
Iranian authorities have denied any involvement in the alleged plots targeting Alinejad.