Two men accused of being members of the Russian mob are standing trial in a US federal court over an alleged Iran-backed plot to kill Iranian-American feminist activist Masih Alinejad on US soil.
Mohsen Rafiqdoost, a former bodyguard of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and an architect of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), made the comments in a recently surfaced video interview.
A bank account in Frankfurt was used to channel money for covert operations abroad, Rafiqdoost said, including for the killing of a former Iranian military commander General Gholam-Ali Oveisi in Paris in 1984.
“We had an account under the name KM,” he said in the video published Monday by Abdollah Abdi, the editor of independent outlet Abdi Media. “The money in that account was used for actions outside the country that could not be done with ordinary funds.”
He also linked the account to proceeds from arms sales during the Iran-Iraq war, recalling how a weapons purchase in Spain left a surplus of $10,000. “That was the beginning of moving funds into that account,” he said.
Rafiqdoost’s statements follow remarks he made on Saturday to the Iranian site Didban Iran, where he said he oversaw multiple assassination operations targeting dissidents. He named several figures killed in Europe, including Shapour Bakhtiar, the last prime minister under the Shah, and Fereydoun Farrokhzad, a singer and outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic.
“The Basque separatist group in Spain carried out these assassinations for us. We paid them, and they conducted the killings on our behalf,” he said.
Rafiqdoost's office disavowed the interviews, chalking the reported comments up to mental deficiencies after surgery and media distortions.
"Mr. Rafiqdoost underwent brain surgery in past years, which resulted in extensive complications and may have affected his recollection of certain memories and names. Therefore, his statements are not legally or historically reliable," it said in a statement.
"Media judgments regarding his statements are inaccurate. Only the official narrative of the events in question can be considered valid."
Khomeini critic silenced
US-based former Iranian ambassador to Germany Hossein Mousavian expressed surprise at the remarks, saying in a post on X that he had believed for decades that Farrokhzad’s killing was the work of Iranian opposition groups.
“After 32 years, for the first time, I learned the facts of the case from Mr. Rafiqdoust’s interview,” added Mousavian, now at Princeton University, New Jersey.
Farrokhzad was murdered in 1992 in Bonn, Germany. At the time, Iranian officials denied involvement, while reports suggested a professional-style hit.
German police found Farrokhzad's body in the kitchen of his apartment. A switchblade had been driven into his right shoulder from behind, and a longer kitchen knife was lodged in his mouth.
In exile, Farrokhzad had become a fierce and outspoken critic of Iran's clerical rulers. He repeatedly mocked Khomeini, portraying him as an illiterate, superstitious figure with sexual fixations in his writings.
Farrokhzad’s murder is often considered part of the so-called Chain Murders in Iran—an series of assassinations that saw numerous dissident intellectuals and activists either disappear or be killed between 1986 and 1998.
The Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence later admitted responsibility for some of the killings.
Mousavian said the Iranian embassy had even facilitated talks for Farrokhzad’s possible return to Iran.
“My colleagues and I at the embassy worked diligently for several months with full capacity, sincerity, and conviction to obtain the approval of the relevant Iranian authorities for his return and security,” he wrote.
Human rights organizations have long accused Tehran of orchestrating assassinations abroad. In a report published in December, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center detailed four decades of extrajudicial killings tied to the Islamic Republic.
The trial in Manhattan federal court kicked off Monday with jury selection.
Federal prosecutors say Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps hired accused members of a Russian crime group Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov to kill the US-based journalist and activist, who is a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic.
Both Amirov and Omarov have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder for hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering. Lawyers for both men have said it was "inaccurate" to refer to them as members of the Russian mob, according to Reuters.
Court documents do not name Alinejad, but she has identified herself as the victim on social media.
As a witness due to take the stand, Alinejad said she has been barred from speaking about the trial. Alinejad who has been the voice for many victims of the Islamic Republic and their families is asking for the public to now be her voice.
"I am very nervous to see the potential killers who tried to kill me, to look them in their eyes," Alinejad posted to X on the eve of the trial, "I want you to be my voice."
The alleged plot became known in 2022 after Khalid Mehdiyev - an alleged co-conspirator of Amirov and Omarov - was arrested outside Alinejad's Brooklyn home with a loaded AK-47 rifle.
Home surveillance footage, which Alinejad posted to X, shows Mehdiyev lurking outside her home. Investigators found ammunition and an assault rifle in his vehicle.
Exposing Transnational Repression
The trial could reveal new details on how Washington's Mideast adversary tries to quash dissent abroad.
The two-week trial could reveal important details about alleged ties between Iran's government and criminal organizations. Iranian-American activists, including Alinejad, have been pushing Western authorities to identify and prioritize tackling what they describe as Tehran's transnational repression.
High-ranking IRGC brigadier general Ruhollah Bazghandi, who is a senior counterintelligence officer, is accused of being a key organizers of the assassination attempt according to an unsealed FBI incitement. It alleges Bazghandi hired Amirov, a citizen of Azerbaijan and Russia, who was living in Iran at the time to kill Alinejad.
Bazghandi was also charged but is not in US custody.
Alinejad is no stranger to threats. In 2021, the FBI thwarted an alleged kidnapping plot against Alinejad.
Since the alleged assassination plot was thwarted, Alinejad been under police protection, moving from safe house to safe house in New York City.
"I could have been dead. I could have been killed," Alinejad said in a video post on X just hours before the trial got underway.
"Finally, I will face the men hired by the Islamic Republic to kill me, right here in New York. Of course, it’s not easy. But it’s a big day. I’m deeply grateful to my new country, the United States of America, for trying to keep me safe from the government of my birth country, Iran," proclaimed Alinejad on social media.
