It has been more than two years since a man was caught loitering outside the New York home of Iranian dissident and journalist Masih Alinejad. What the police found inside his car was shocking – an assault rifle with an obliterated serial number, 66 rounds of ammunition, and a ski mask. This man was allegedly sent by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran to kill Alinejad, a vocal critic of the Tehran regime.
On Monday, the men accused of directing this assassination attempt – Russian mobsters Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov – are set to stand trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan. They are charged with murder for hire and conspiracy, highlighting the lengths to which the Iranian government will go to silence its critics, even those outside its borders.
In 2023, when federal officials first revealed the details of the assassination plot against Alinejad, Attorney General Merrick Garland stated, “We will not tolerate attempts by a foreign power to threaten, silence, or harm Americans.” Alinejad, who previously worked as a journalist in Iran before being forced to leave the country in 2009, now hosts a show with Voice of America’s Persian Service in exile.
When contacted by phone on Monday, Alinejad told VOA that she is unable to comment while the trial is ongoing. This is not the first time Alinejad has been targeted by the Iranian government. In 2018, officials offered to pay her relatives in Iran to lure her to Turkey, with the ultimate goal of bringing her back to Iran for imprisonment. However, her relatives refused to cooperate.
Then in 2021, Iranian operatives were accused of planning to kidnap Alinejad. An indictment described a plan to bring her from New York to Venezuela, a country with close relations to Iran. Since the kidnapping attempt, Alinejad has been under the protection of the U.S. government and has had to frequently move between safe houses. Despite the threats, she has refused to stop her work.
In an interview with VOA in 2023, Alinejad stated, “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. And that gives me power – that, wow, even with my words, even with my social media, I’m more powerful than them.” This statement highlights the fear that the Iranian government has of Alinejad’s activism and the power of her voice.
The alleged plot to assassinate Alinejad came to light soon after the kidnapping attempt failed, according to prosecutors. They claim that the killing plot was initiated by a network in Iran led by Ruhollah Bazghandi, a brigadier general in the Revolutionary Guards. Bazghandi and three other Iranian men, who are not in Iranian custody, have also been charged in New York with murder for hire.
“This is in the DNA of the Revolutionary Guards,” Alinejad told VOA in October 2024 when Bazghandi and the three others were indicted. She also stressed the importance of the U.S. government holding Iran accountable for the plot and for Tehran’s broader use of transnational repression. “This is about protecting democracy,” Alinejad stated. “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.”
When contacted for comment, Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately reply to VOA’s email. In the trial beginning Monday, prosecutors plan to describe how Amirov and Omarov operated within a Russian criminal organization called the Thieves-in-Law, which originated in Stalinist prison camps. A former member of the criminal group, identified in court papers as “CW-1,” will testify for the government as a cooperating witness. His actions correspond to those of Khalid Mehdiyev, the Azerbaijani man who was arrested outside Alinejad’s house with a gun in 2022.
According to an indictment, members of the Bazghandi network turned to Amirov, an Azerbaijani Russian citizen living in Iran at the time. Amirov then contacted Omarov, who was living in Eastern Europe. The duo gave $30,000 to Mehdiyev, who purchased the assault rifle and staked out Alinejad’s house for about a week. At one point,
