Federal prosecutors have charged a military official affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran, along with three others, for plotting to assassinate an Iranian-American journalist in New York. The indicted official, Ruhollah Bazghandi, was a brigadier general previously serving as the chief of the corps’ counterintelligence department. The other defendants remain at large in Iran. The U.S. has previously charged suspects in this case, with one of them arrested outside the journalist’s home in Brooklyn.
The Department of Justice revealed that members of the Bazghandi Network, an Eastern European crime group, were hired to murder the journalist and had been planning the assassination since at least July 2022. Despite some arrests in January 2023, other members of the network continued to target the journalist.
The indictment includes charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and violating sanctions against the Iranian government. This case is the latest in escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with federal authorities reporting an increase in plots tied to Iran since 2020.
The U.S. is currently facing retaliatory actions from Iran, with attempts to assassinate officials and threats to U.S. citizens. The Biden administration recently offered a $20 million reward for an IRGC member charged in another murder-for-hire plot. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice indicted individuals for plotting to murder an Iranian defector and a Maryland resident on U.S. soil. These incidents highlight the ongoing conflict between the two countries.
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