Official announcements from the U.S. Department of Treasury or State

U.S. Charges IRGC General in 2022 Brooklyn Assassination Plot Against Activist Masih Alinejad

Oct 22, 2024, 05:21 PM

U.S. federal prosecutors have charged Ruhollah Bazghandi, a brigadier general in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and former intelligence officer, along with three other men connected to Iran's government, with participating in a failed 2022 plot to assassinate Masih Alinejad, a Brooklyn-based Iranian-American journalist and women's rights activist. The indictment, unsealed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, alleges that the defendants were involved in a murder-for-hire scheme orchestrated by an Iranian intelligence network. The plot has already led to charges against members of an Eastern European criminal organization with ties to Iran. This marks the first time the U.S. has directly accused a high-ranking Iranian official of participating in such a plot on U.S. soil. The Justice Department's action underscores ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran's attempts to silence dissidents abroad.