An Iranian intelligence officer is wanted in connection with planning to assassinate former and current U.S. officials in revenge for the 2020 killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Quds Force Cmdr. Qassem Soleimani, the FBI posted on X.
The FBI field office in Miami shared a wanted notice for Majid Dastjani Farahani in connection with the recruitment of individuals for various operations in the U.S., including for surveillance activities focused on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities in the U.S., according to Newsweek.
The announcement by the FBI, which said Farahani is working directly or indirectly for Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security, comes amid heightened tensions with Tehran as Iranian proxies inflame hostilities connected to the war in Gaza by attacking Israeli and American targets.
Although Tehran has denied its involvement in recent attacks against U.S. targets, two years ago Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi blamed former President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for Soleimani's killing and threatened that Muslims will take out martyr's revenge against them, Newsweek reported.
In addition, Shahram Poursafi, a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard, was indicted in 2022 for an alleged revenge plot to kill former national security adviser John Bolton, according to the New York Post.
After news of the latest threat, Pompeo and Brian Hook, former President Donald Trump's special envoy for Iran, were given around-the-clock security, Semafor reported.
The U.S. Treasury Department in December announced sanctions against Farahani and another Iranian intelligence officer Mohammad Mahdi Khanpour Ardestani.
Soleimani oversaw a number of militias that targeted U.S. troops in Iraq, and had more "American blood on his hands" than any terrorist since Osama Bin Laden, according to a 2021 Department of Justice report on the Baghdad airstrike that killed him, the New York Post reported.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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