China and Russia have reaffirmed their support for Iran amid US pressure over Tehran's nuclear program, urging a return to dialogue based on mutual respect and calling for the lifting of all sanctions against Iran.
Khalid Mehdiyev said one of the defendants in the Russian mob group, Rafat Amirov confessed to him that Iran's government was behind the plot to murder the Iranian-American journalist.
Jacob Gutwillig, a federal prosecutor said in court this week: "The defendants were hired guns for the government of Iran."
Alinejad has been of the strongest and most vocal critics of Tehran's human rights abuses and persecution of women and minorities.
Since she fled Iran in 2009, she has had a target on her back.
“I was trying to get the easy way to kill her," the bearded Mehdiyev confessed in the Manhattan courtroom.
Prosecutors have said Iran’s government offered to pay Amirov, 45, and Omarov, 40, about $500,000.
Amirov and Omarov, both fellow natives of Mehdiyev’s Azerbaijan, are on trial for the murder-for-hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering. The duo both pleaded not guilty.
Mehdiyev, who said he was paid $30,000 for the failed assassination attempt, is cooperating with the federal government after pleading guilty in an effort to lessen his potential sentence.
Watching and Waiting
Mehdiyev got dangerously close to Alinejad.
He parked outside of Alinejad's Brooklyn home for two days, watching her every move, and even slept in his car, ordering doordash meals to his vehicle.
The self-proclaimed Russian mobster watched and waited for his target.
The would-be assassin told the court he tried to open Alinejad's door, took videos and photos of himself touching her flowers in her front yard to prove to his mobster associates he was getting close to his mission, and asked his mob boss for a bike to conduct more surveillance.
In bone chilling testimony, Mehdiyev said even tried to hire a woman to lure Alinejad outside her home. He said he told the woman that his target owed him money and once she was in plain sight from the door opening, he would take care of the rest and pay her his share.
“I was there to try to kill the journalist,” said Mehdiyev.
He said in court Thursday that he saw Alinejad outside her Brooklyn home in at least on occasion. The shocking revelation made even more significant since Alinejad was already under FBI protection at the time.
But his assassination plans failed with some errors.
Once Alinejad spotted the stranger lurking around her home, peering into her window and wandering around her, she reported him to the FBI.
Mehdiyev ran a stop sign as authorities trailed him, leading to his arrest and the discovery of a loaded Ak-47, with one in the chamber and a ski mask.
The ski mask, he calmly said in court was "to cover my face when I was going to kill the journalist."
A past of kidnappings and murder-for-hire plots
Mehdiyev faced a grueling cross-examination that focused on his extensive criminal past.
Elena Fast, Omarov’s defense attorney, asked if he was ever caught for committing crimes in other parts of the world. He allegedly committed crimes in 7 countries around the world, but has only been convicted in the U.S.
Mehdiyev told the court he once tried to orchestrate a kidnapping in Ukraine as he was also managing a pizza shop called Peppino’s.
His resume included alleged kidnappings, extortion and murder-for-hire plots.
Green Card for an Informant (S Nonimmigrant)
Mehdiyev was born in Azerbaijan and left for the United States in 2017 after fear of rival gangs emerged in his home country.
He said he was offered by one of his mob bosses, known as a Vor in Russian, to run the gang division in the U.S. Mehdiyev said his goal was to one day became a Vor himself, and move up the ranks from his position.
He entered the U.S. on Nov 4, 2017 and later applied for political asylum, claiming that he would be tortured by Azerbaijani authorities. Mehdiyev admitted it was a lie as Fast, Omarov’s defense attorney said he was wanted in Azerbaijan for crime.
As a witness who has agreed to cooperate with the US government Mehdiyev's entire immediate family including his father, mother and brother are living in the United States with a S greencard, provided to informants.
Meantime, Alinejad hasn't seen her family in more than 15 years. Even Alinejad's brother was imprisoned in Iran in an attempt to put pressure on her to cease her activism.
As a witness, Alinejad cannot discuss the case, but posted to X on Wednesday how profoundly grateful she was to US law enforcement for saving her life.
“In a federal court, he admitted he was sent by the Islamic Republic to kill me for the ‘crime’ of speaking out,” Alinejad wrote on X.
Following trilateral talks in Beijing on Friday, senior diplomats from China, Russia, and Iran issued a joint statement emphasizing the need to address the root causes of the nuclear standoff. They condemned "unlawful" unilateral sanctions and underscored that Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy must be fully respected.
The meeting was not held at the highest diplomatic level but was led by deputy foreign ministers. Russia's Sergei Ryabkov, Iran's Kazem Gharibabadi, and China's Ma Zhaoxu attended the talks at the Diaoyutai State Guest House on Friday.
"(China, Russia, and Iran) emphasized that the relevant parties should be committed to addressing the root cause of the current situation and abandoning sanctions, pressure, or threats of force," said China's Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu.
Iran says Russia and China back limiting talks to nuclear issue
Iran, Russia, and China have agreed that future negotiations will focus solely on Iran's nuclear program and the lifting of sanctions, with no other issues on the table, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, announced after the trilateral meeting in Beijing.
"Any negotiations and discussions will be exclusively centered on the nuclear issue and the removal of sanctions," Gharibabadi said during a press conference following the meeting.
A major point of contention in the broader negotiation process has been whether discussions should expand to include Iran's missile program and its regional activities—issues that Washington insists must be addressed in any future agreement. However, Tehran and Moscow have firmly rejected this approach.
"Negotiations should not include Iran’s missile program or its regional influence," Russia’s envoy to the Vienna talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, said last week in an interview with BBC Persian. "Adding these topics would complicate the process and make it unmanageable."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also criticized Washington's stance, warning that efforts to attach additional conditions to the agreement would fail. "This is not going to fly," Lavrov said, emphasizing Moscow's position that negotiations must remain limited to the original nuclear framework.
Trump says talks or risk of military action
The meeting comes as tensions rise between Tehran and Washington. The US has recently pushed for Iran to resume nuclear talks, but Iran has resisted, citing ongoing sanctions and perceived threats.
Last week, US President Donald Trump reiterated his stance on how to deal with Iran, saying, "There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal." In response, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian firmly rejected any dialogue under pressure, saying Iran "would not bow to US orders to talk."
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, however, indicated Tehran's openness to indirect negotiations via Oman. "Indirect negotiation is feasible... What is important is that the will to negotiate and reach a fair and just agreement comes up in equal conditions," Araghchi said in an interview. Oman has historically served as a diplomatic channel between Tehran and Washington.
However, Araghchi emphasized that "entering negotiations under maximum pressure will lead to negotiations from a position of weakness."
Meanwhile, concerns over Iran's nuclear activities have grown. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently warned that Tehran has dramatically accelerated uranium enrichment, approaching weapons-grade levels. Iran has denied seeking nuclear weapons but acknowledged increased enrichment as a response to US pressure.
A closed-door UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday, requested by six members including the US, Britain, and France, discussed Iran's compliance with nuclear regulations. Tehran criticized the meeting as a "misuse" of the Security Council.
China and Russia, both key stakeholders in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have reiterated their commitment to restoring the deal, which Trump withdrew from in 2018. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized Washington's efforts to attach additional conditions to a future agreement, warning that it "is not going to fly."
China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning emphasized restraint. "In the current situation, we believe that all parties should maintain calm and restraint to avoid escalating the Iran nuclear situation or walking towards confrontation and conflict," she said on Thursday.
As diplomatic tensions escalate, Beijing has called for enhanced cooperation to "increase mutual trust and dispel misgivings," while Russia has positioned itself as a potential mediator.
