Iran hires criminal gangs to attack dissidents and Jewish targets worldwide

Iran hired Eastern European criminals to attack Iran International journalist Pouria Zeraati, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

Zeraati was stabbed four times in March and was left bleeding on the sidewalk.

British researchers told the Washington Post that the attackers were not from Iran and had no apparent ties to Iranian security services.

The attackers were reportedly hired criminals from Eastern Europe. They had no trouble entering Britain through Heathrow Airport in the days leading up to the attack. They flew out just hours after the stabbing.

“We deny any link to the story of this so-called journalist,” the country’s ambassador to the United Kingdom said in a message on X the day after the attack.

According to researchers, Zeraati’s survival of the attack may not have been a mistake, but may have been intended as a warning to other critics.

Motorcyclists gather during a demonstration by the Hells Angels to protest against the ban on their insignia in Berlin, Germany, September 14, 2019. (Photo: Christian Mang/Reuters)

The Washington Post said this was just one case highlighting Iran’s exploitation of criminal networks behind a number of recent plots orchestrated by the IRGC and Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. The publication said it suspected this after interviewing senior officials in more than a dozen countries and reviewing hundreds of criminal documents from the US and Europe.

Hells Angels

Iran is also said to have plotted against a former Iranian soldier living in the US under an assumed name, an exiled Iranian-American journalist in Brooklyn, a women’s rights activist in Switzerland, several LGBTQ+ activists in Germany and at least five journalists from Iran International.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Naji Sharifi Zindashti for allegedly arranging a $350,000 contract with two Hells Angels in Canada to murder a defector and his wife.

According to the report, the hitmen hired by the Hells Angels exchanged coded messages with Zindashti, promising that the killing would be symbolic and brutal.

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This was reportedly not the only contractual relationship between the Islamic regime and the Hells Angels. Iran is said to have hired a German Angel to orchestrate the bombing of a synagogue in Essen. The German member, Ramin Yektaparast, is said to have fled to Tehran to avoid murder charges.

Since 2014, Britain has seen the most attacks and plots against dissidents by Iran (18), closely followed by the United States, with nine recorded by the Washington Post. Turkey has seen five attacks and/or plots, while Iraq has seen 5. A number of European Union member countries have also hosted Iranian attacks and plots against dissidents, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and others.

Iran denies reports

Iran denies targeting dissidents abroad and blames Israel and several other countries for the “fabrication”.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention or plan to carry out assassination or kidnapping operations, whether in the West or in any other country,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in a statement. “These fabrications are fabrications of the Zionist regime, the Albania-based Mujahedin-e Khalq terrorist sect and certain Western intelligence agencies – including that of the United States – to divert attention from the atrocities committed by the Israeli regime.”