Iranian Intelligence Officers Charged With Sanctions Violations as Part of Murder Plot
An indictment was unsealed on Oct. 22 charging Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps brigadier general Ruhollah Bazghandi and members of his network with sanctions evasion, among other charges, in their efforts to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York City, DOJ announced.
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The indictment also named Fnu Lnu, Hossein Sedighi and Seyed Mohammad Forouzan and alleged that the four individuals contracted members of a criminal organization based in Eastern Europe to murder the U.S. citizen who has voiced public opposition to the Iranian government. Bazghandi formerly served as head of an IRGC Intelligence Organization counterintelligence office and was sanctioned in 2023 for "hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of U.S. nationals abroad." He was sanctioned a second time, also in 2023, for taking part in the IRGC's "lethal targeting operations."
In 2020 and 2021, DOJ alleged, Iranian intelligence officials plotted to kidnap the U.S. citizen and bring them to Iran to silence their criticism of the regime. Starting in July 2022, Bazghandi's network set out to assassinate the victim, though the plot was disrupted by the FBI. All four members of Bazghandi's network were charged with, among other things, conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and sanctions on Iran, which comes with a maximum 20-year prison sentence.
The indictment said the four individuals "would and did provide and cause others to provide services to Iran and to the Government of lran from the United States and by U.S. persons" without getting clearance from the Office of Foreign Assets Control.