The Islamic Republic of Iran has been hiring Hells Angels and other criminal groups to abduct and assassinate its critics in countries like the United States (US), Germany, and the United Kingdom (UK).
This was revealed in a report published by The Washington Post on Thursday, September 12, based on interviews with senior officials, criminal court records, and security service documents, from over a dozen countries.
The Russian organisation “Thieves in Law,” which is a heroin distribution network headed by an Iranian drug trafficker, and violent organisations from Scandinavia to South America are among those who have allegedly been recruited by Iran.
The Iranian regime in the West is targeting exiles, including a former military officer in Maryland, an Iranian-American journalist in Brooklyn, a women’s rights activist in Switzerland, LGBTQ+ activists in Germany, and a dissident in London.
Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati was stabbed four times in Wimbledon, London, following years of threats and intimidation, prompting him to temporarily relocate to safe houses.
MI5 and Metropolitan Police have identified 88 violent plots linked to Iran in the past five years, including 16 assassination and abduction attempts, with 14 involving criminal groups, The Post reported.
In August this year, the US Justice Department recently unsealed charges against Pakistani man Asif Merchant in connection with an Iranian plot to kill a politician or US government official.
Masih Alinejad, a journalist from America-Iranian, has been targeted in three plots, with officials preventing one involving Khalid Mehdiyev, a member of Thieves in Law.
Tehran has reportedly outsourced assassinations and abductions to Iranian drug trafficker Naji Sharifi Zindashti, who is referred to as a “Pablo Escobar-type narco-trafficker.”
It is reported that Iran’s collaboration with criminal gangs, rather than utilising covert operatives, shows a concerning shift in governance tactics, which US and other Western security experts regard as one of the most dangerous acts of “transnational repression” in the world.
Naji Sharifi Zindashti is being accused of conducting international assassinations.
