US charges IRGC official with conspiracy to assassinate activist in New York

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged a high-ranking official of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with being part of a 2022 plot to murder Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad, who currently lives in New York.

On October 22, details of the conspiracy, including charges of hiring for murder and money laundering against Ruhollah Bazghandi and three other Iranian nationals, were disclosed in a revised indictment outlining the alleged scheme, Caliber.Az reports citing Israeli media.

Although the Justice Department did not specify the target of the conspiracy, Alinejad confirmed that she was the intended victim.

“The disclosure that the conspiracy to assassinate me was orchestrated by the IRGC under Ali Khamenei in July 2022 serves as a stark reminder of the extreme lengths the Islamic regime will go to silence dissidents, even those residing far outside Iran’s borders,” she remarked.

Last year, several individuals were charged by the Justice Department in connection with an assassination attempt on Alinejad.

The indictment claims that Bazghandi and other Iranian officials recruited members of an Eastern European criminal organization to execute the assassination.

U.S. authorities reported that Bazghandi and the three other Iranians involved remain at large in Iran.

According to the Justice Department, Bazghandi is a “brigadier general of the IRGC and previously led the IRGC's intelligence organization.”

In a statement released on October 22, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized, “We will not tolerate attempts by authoritarian regimes, such as Iran, to undermine the fundamental rights guaranteed to every American.”

Alinejad has been a vocal critic of the Iranian government and its treatment of women, particularly regarding the compulsory hijab laws.

In 2021, U.S. prosecutors charged four Iranian individuals, alleged intelligence agents, with conspiracy to kidnap Alinejad.

Tehran has dismissed these kidnapping conspiracy allegations as “ridiculous and baseless.”

Since the onset of the war in Gaza, Alinejad has pointed out that Hamas acts as a proxy for Iran and has called for the regime in Tehran to be dismantled.

By Tamilla Hasanova