The FBI is on the hunt for an Iranian intelligence operative who has been allegedly plotting to assassinate current and former U.S. govern...
The FBI is on the hunt for an Iranian intelligence operative who has been allegedly plotting to assassinate current and former U.S. government officials, including Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state under former President Donald Trump.
Last week, the Bureau’s Miami field office issued a public alert as it sought information on Majid Dastjani Farahani, who is suspected of being a member of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, Semafor reported. The FBI warned of Farahani, 42, in a Most Wanted notice on Friday, saying that he speaks Farsi, French, Spanish, and English and will often move between Iran and Venezuela.
According to the FBI, Farahani was recruiting “individuals for various operations in the United States, to include lethal targeting of current and former United States Government officials” as part of a revenge operation for the U.S. taking out Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani in 2020 under Trump and Pompeo.
Semafor reported that U.S. officials said Pompeo and former special envoy for Iran Brian Hook were given 24-hour security after the FBI warned of Farahani. In 2022, the Department of Justice indicted members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for an alleged plot to assassinate former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who also served under Trump.
Farahani is also accused of recruiting people to run “surveillance activities focused on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities in the United States.”
Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike ordered by Trump in January 2020. The brutal Iranian general had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops in Iraq, and the U.S. State Department says Soleimani was directly behind 17% of all U.S. personnel deaths during the Iraq War.
Shortly after Soleimani’s death, the top Iranian general and other officials vowed that Iran would get revenge on the U.S. Iran’s volatility raised concerns again when Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists launched an attack on Israel on October 7, killing over 1,200 and taking hundreds hostage into the Gaza Strip. The IRGC said two months after the terrorist attack on Israel that it was “one of the revenges” for the killing of Soleimani.
While Hamas denied it had the same reason as the IRGC for its 10/7 atrocities, Iran’s threats, and thirst for bloodshed following the death of its beloved general were heard clearly. U.S. forces were even attacked by Iranian-backed terrorists in January, and three American soldiers were killed.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have also been causing chaos in the Red Sea and the Middle East, launching attacks on shipping vessels and Israeli forces. The U.S. has responded to the ongoing terrorist actions with limited strikes inside Yemen and a drone strike that killed multiple terrorist leaders in Baghdad, Iraq, last month.