The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned four Iranian intelligence operatives who sought to kidnap an American journalist as part of a wider attempt to silence critics of the Iranian government.
The Treasury Department announced Saturday that it was designating senior Iran-based intelligence official Alireza Shahvaroghi Farahani as well as three subordinates, including Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi, and Omid Noori.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a press statement on Friday that Senior intelligence official Alireza Shahvaroghi Farahani led a network that plotted the kidnapping of a U.S. journalist and human rights activist.
“The Iranian government’s kidnapping plot is another example of its continued attempt to silence critical voices, wherever they may be,” Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control Andrea M Gacki said in the statement.
“Targeting dissidents abroad demonstrates that the government’s repression extends far beyond Iran’s borders,” she added.
Although the statement did not name the target, GNB learned that she is Masih Alinejad, a well-known journalist and human rights defender living in Brooklyn, New York.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control described the kidnapping plot and sanctions implications in the statement as below:
U.S. KIDNAPPING PLOT
Senior Iran-based intelligence official Alireza Shahvaroghi Farahani leads a network of intelligence operatives, including Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi, and Omid Noori, tasked with targeting Iranian dissidents in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates. Farahani, Khazein, Sadeghi, and Noori planned the abduction of a New York City-based Iranian-American activist by utilizing the services of a private investigator to conduct surveillance on the victim and laundered money from Iran to the United States to pay for this surveillance. Sadeghi acted as the network’s primary point of contact with the private investigator in the United States and researched options to abduct the victim via military-style speedboats out of New York City for transport to Venezuela. Noori facilitated payment to the investigator, while Khazein researched travel routes from the victim’s residence to potential exfiltration points. Farahani, Khazein, Sadeghi, and Noori have been indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for conspiracy related to kidnapping, sanctions violations, bank and wire fraud, and money laundering.
Alireza Shahvaroghi Farahani, Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi, and Omid Noori are being designated today pursuant to E.O. 13553 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the MOIS.
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
All property and interests in property of these designated persons that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC. OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.
In addition, non-U.S. persons that engage in certain transactions with the persons designated today may themselves be exposed to designation. Furthermore, any foreign financial institution that knowingly conducts or facilitates a significant transaction for or on behalf of the persons designated today could be subject to U.S. correspondent or payable-through account sanctions.
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