A senior Iranian official and three other suspects linked to the Iranian regime were charged with planning to assassinate a prominent Iranian journalist and dissident.
US charges IRGC official, 3 others in plot to assassinate dissident journalist https://t.co/hJz0xrr6fQ
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) October 22, 2024
A new indictment made available to the public on October 22 showed that federal prosecutors in New York charged Ruhollah Bazghandi, a senior official in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and three other men linked to Tehran, in participation in a foiled assassination attempt against Masih Alinejad in Brooklyn in 2022.
These charges are the first that a high-ranking official of the IRGC was accused of having a role in a plot to kill an Iranian-American dissident.
"Today's indictment exposes the full extent of Iran's plot to silence an American journalist for criticizing the Iranian regime," Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, said in a statement. "As these charges show, the FBI will work with our partners here and abroad to hold accountable those who target Americans."
Bullshit! If there was an attack it's been staged by the US itself!
We don't get fooled anymore— Bardia (@Bardia_67P) October 23, 2024
The indictment describes Bazghandi as a brigadier general with the IRGC. Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department called him a counterintelligence official last year. It also accused him of being involved with assassination plots against journalists and others considered enemies of the Iranian regime.
Alinejad said she felt a mix of sadness and excitement when the FBI told her the news on the morning of October 22.
"I was so excited because now we have proof that this is a member of the Revolutionary Guards ordering a man in New York, from inside Iran, to kill a U.S. citizen," Alinejad said. "That was my reaction. Mixed feelings. Happy, but at the same time sad that the same people cannot be stopped from killing innocent women and men inside [Iran]."
Enough is enough, we need to stand up for journalists like Masih Alinejad and against the oppressive Iranian regime, their actions won't be tolerated
— Jordan Blake (@EqualityJordy) October 28, 2024
The journalist, who is also a host of the Persian Service of the Voice of America (VOA), an American state media network, said the indictment confirms the lengths the Iranian government will go to silence critics.
"It shows that this is in the DNA of the Revolutionary Guards," Alinejad added.
The failed assassination attempt against her came one year after a previous failed attempt to kidnap Alinejad back in 2021. The FBI said the kidnapping attempt was part of a plot by the Iranian government to bring her to Iran.
Since the kidnapping attempt, Alinejad moved frequently between safe houses and received protection from the US government. But despite numerous attempts against her life by the Iranian government, Alinejad refused to stop her work.
I heard it from a lot of Iranians that she's an IRGC asset
Not sure if it's true— Take a beer (@Takeabeer69) October 23, 2024
"I don't have any guns and bullets — I don't carry weapons. But this government, they have everything, and they're really scared of me," Alinejad told the VOA in late 2023. "And that gives me power — that, wow, even with my words, even with my social media, I'm more powerful than them."
She also stressed how important it is for the American government to hold the Iranian regime accountable for the plot and its broader campaign of targeting critics and journalists abroad through intimidation and harassment.
"This is not a partisan issue. This is about protecting democracy. Because I don't think that they targeted me. I have no fear for my own life," Alinejad said. "The Iranian regime is challenging the U.S. government on U.S. soil, and basically, this is targeting freedom of speech and the national security and safety of America."
