loading…
Majid Dastjani Farahani is wanted by the FBI. Photo/X/fbi
WASHINGTON – The FBI accused Iranian intelligence agents of recruiting agents in the United States (US) to help kill current and former government officials involved in the assassination of a top Tehran general in January 2020.
“Majid Dastjani Farahani is sought for questioning in connection with plans to target US officials,” the FBI's Miami office said in a post on X.
An FBI wanted poster for the 41-year-old Farahani claims he has acted or claimed to act on behalf of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security while recruiting individuals for operations in the US.
“Farahani engaged in deadly targeting of senior US officials, including members of former President Donald Trump's administration, to avenge the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force,” the FBI claimed.
Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport while traveling to meet Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Iraq's prime minister at the time.
Washington said at the time Soleimani was involved in attacks on US diplomatic and military sites in Iraq and Syria.
Some Iranian officials have made no secret of their desire to avenge Soleimani's death by killing Trump and other US leaders, such as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the military commanders involved in the killing.
“God willing, we want to kill Trump (and) Pompeo,” the commander of the IRGC's aerospace forces, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, told state television last year.
John Bolton, who served as Trump's national security adviser, has been the target of multiple Iranian assassination plots, according to US authorities.