The federal trial in Manhattan of two alleged contract killers reportedly hired by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to assassinate Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad coincided with revelations that Iran had ordered the assassinations of dissidents in Europe. This news has significant implications for President Trump’s Iran policy.
The trial of the suspects and the disclosures made by a former IRGC founder, revealing that the Iranian regime had ordered the killings of exiled Iranians, highlight the pressing need to address Iran’s threats against President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and other Iranian-American critics of the government.
Mohsen Rafiqdoost, a former high-ranking IRGC official who also served as a bodyguard for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, admitted in a video interview to overseeing operations aimed at eliminating exiled Iranian dissidents.
In an interview on the Iranian regime-controlled outlet Didehban-e Iran, he said the dissidents included former Iranian Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar, the popular artist Fereydoun Farrokhzad, who was murdered in Bonn, Germany, and military officials Gholam-Ali Oveissi and Shahriar Shafiq.
Rafiqdoost said, “The Basque separatist group in Spain carried out these assassinations for us. We paid them, and they conducted the killings on our behalf.”
After Trump ordered a drone strike to kill the U.S. and EU-designated Iranian regime terrorist Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020, Mousavian paid tribute to Soleimani in a 2022 Iran TV program. Mousavian also went to Iran to attend the funeral of Soleimani, who was responsible for the murders of over 600 American military personnel in the Middle East, according to the U.S. government.Â
Mousavian took to X on the so-called Chain Murders in Iran – an extensive Iranian regime state-sponsored campaign that eradicated important Iranian dissidents between 1986 and 1998. Mousavian said, “Fereydoun Farrokhzad was murdered in mid-August 1992 at his home in Bonn, Germany. At that time, I was the Iranian Ambassador to Germany, and along with my colleagues at the embassy, I made extensive efforts for the return of Iranians residing in Germany who wanted to return to Iran.”
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses the media during the voting for parliamentary elections in Tehran on May 10, 2024. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Mousavian’s tweet noted, “We pursued the matter, and the relevant authorities in Tehran assured us that Farrokhzad had been assassinated by the Iranian opposition abroad. We then relayed Tehran’s position to the German authorities and in interviews.”
His statement concluded, “I wish that figures like Farrokhzad, who were willing to return to their homeland, could have returned safely to their motherland. It is in Iran’s national interest to use the potential of Iranians living abroad and ensure their full security for their return to their homeland.”
Mousavian did not respond to numerous Fox News Digital email press queries, including a WhatsApp message and telephone call.
Lawdan Bazargan, the Iranian-American human rights activist, said Iran’s regime had lured Iranian dissidents back to the country to later execute them. She cast doubt on Mousavian’s explanation that he sought to repatriate Farrokhzad. Bazargan cited the case of Javad Safar as a dissident who returned to Iran and was killed by the regime. Iran’s regime has employed sophisticated surveillance operations to lure prominent Iranian dissidents to countries with lax security to kidnap them and transport the dissidents to Iran.Â
A telling example involved the journalist Ruhollah Zam, who was tricked by the regime and executed in 2020. Zam’s website and social media expertise helped spread information about protests against the clerical regime and exposed widespread regime corruption.
Numerous Fox News Digital press queries sent to Iran’s foreign ministry and U.N. mission were not answered.
Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.
