By james art A general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has been charged in New York in connection with an alleged plot to kill a dissident Iranian-American journalist, US officials said Tuesday.
The target of the alleged assassination plot was not named in unsealed court documents, but she has been widely identified as Masih Alinejad, who lives in New York.
“The Department of Justice has indicted eight individuals, including an Iranian military official, for their efforts to silence and kill a US citizen for her criticism of the Iranian regime,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“We will not tolerate efforts by an authoritarian regime like Iran to undermine the basic rights guaranteed to every American,” Garland said in a statement.
While there was no immediate comment from the Iranian government on the latest in the Alinejad case, Tehran has routinely rejected similar U.S. accusations of alleged plots to kill U.S. officials or politicians in the past.
Alinejad posted about the allegations on her X account, saying the alleged plot to kill her was “a stark reminder of the brutal lengths to which the Islamic regime will go to silence dissidents, even those far beyond Iran’s borders.”
The charges were unsealed on Tuesday against Ruhollah Bazgandi, identified as an Iranian Revolutionary Guard brigadier general and former intelligence officer.
Three other Iranians with “connections to the government of Iran” – Hajj Taher, Hossein Sedighi and Seyed Mohammad Forouzan – were also charged.
None of them are in US custody and are believed to be in Iran. They face charges of conspiracy to commit murder and money laundering.
Four members of an Eastern European crime gang believed to be involved in the plot to kill Alinejad have already been arrested.
“This group did not act alone,” said US Attorney Damien Williams.
“Today we hold their Iranian masters accountable and allege that these Iran-based co-conspirators, including a brigadier general from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, led the assassination plot.”
According to the Department of Justice, members of the Eastern European criminal network were “hired” by Bazgandi and other members of his network to kill Alinejad.
In July 2022, a man hired to carry out the assassination was arrested near Alinejad’s New York home with a loaded AK-47 assault rifle.
The United States has also accused Iran of seeking to kill American officials in retaliation for the 2020 US killing of Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani.
A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran pleaded not guilty in New York last month to charges that he tried to hire an assassin to kill an American politician or official.
The State Department also announced a $20 million reward last month for information leading to the arrest of the alleged Iranian mastermind behind the plot to kill former White House official John Bolton.
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