Three Indicted for Assassination Plot Directed from Iran
Murder-for-Hire and money laundering charges were unsealed against three members of an Eastern European criminal organization for allegedly plotting to kill a U.S. citizen targeted by the Government of Iran. Prosecutors say the Iranian government targeted the victim for speaking out against the Iranian regime.
The suspects, Rafat Amirov of Iran, Polad Omarov of the Czech Republic and Slovenia, and Khalid Mehdiyev of Yonkers, New York, were indicted in the Southern District of New York. They were members of an Eastern European gang with ties to Iran.
Officials say this case highlights the emerging threat of organized crime teaming up with a rogue nation, in this case Iran.
“Increasingly, we are seeing national security and criminal threats blend, as rogue nations and criminal organizations make common cause and share capabilities,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
The victim is a U.S. citizen of Iranian descent and a journalist, author, and human rights activist living in Brooklyn, New York. He has publicly spoken out about the Iranian Government’s human rights abuses, suppression of political expression, discriminatory treatment of women, and use of arbitrary torture and execution.
“We will not tolerate attempts by a foreign power to threaten, silence, or harm Americans,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Court documents say that the criminal organization was tasked by Iranian officials with murdering the victim. This after an earlier plot to kidnap him and take him back to Iran was unsuccessful. That plot was also disrupted by the FBI in and led to federal kidnapping conspiracy and other charges in 2021.
According to prosecutors, the three suspects in the 2022 case worked together to obtain and share surveillance information about the victim and his residence with associates in New York, Europe, and Iran.
Court documents say that Amirov and Omarov arranged for $30,000 in cash to be sent Mehdiyev, who used a portion of the money to buy an AK-47-style assault rifle, as well as ammunition.
Prosecutors say Mehdiyev returned with the assault rifle to the victim’s neighborhood for several days but was unable to lure the victim out of his house.
Eventually, the victim left after observing suspicious activity outside his house. Shortly after, Mehdiyev was stopped for a traffic violation, where police officers found the assault rifle, 66 rounds of ammunition, $1,100 in cash, and a black ski mask.
Mehdiyev was arrested at that time of the traffic stop. Amirov arrived in the U.S. January 26 to face the charges. Omarov was arrested in the Czech Republic and is awaiting extradition to the U.S.
Deputy Attorney General Monaco hailed the case as the latest example of the Department of Justice (DOJ) pursuing cases involving Iran. Other recent cases include charging members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for a plot to murder a former U.S. National Security Advisor, indicting Iranian hackers for targeting U.S. companies and infrastructure, and calling out Iran over a cyberattack that hit a partner government’s computer networks.
The FBI and its New York Field Office Counterintelligence-Cyber Division, the New York FBI Iran Threat Task Force, the New York FBI Counterintelligence Task Force, and the New York FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force are investigating, along with the New York City Policy Department (NYPD) and the Justice Department’s National Security Division and Office of International Affairs.
“The conduct charged shows how far Iranian actors are willing to go to silence critics, even attempting to assassinate a U.S. citizen on American soil. We are determined to safeguard the rights of all Americans from the oppressive reach of hostile regimes,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.