The FBI has alleged that an Iranian intelligence agent recruited agents from the United States to help kill current and former government officials involved in the January 2020 assassination of Tehran's top general.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the FBI's Miami office said the alleged agent, Majid Destyani Farahani, was wanted for questioning in connection with the plot to target US officials.
The post included an FBI affidavit alleging that Farahani, 41, acted on behalf of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security while recruiting for operations in the United States.
The FBI alleged that Farahani engaged in "lethal targeting" of senior US officials, including members of former President Donald Trump's administration, to avenge the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force.
Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport while traveling to meet Iraq's then prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. Washington said at the time that Soleimani was complicit in attacks on US diplomatic and military facilities in Iraq and Syria.
Some Iranian officials have made no secret of their desire to avenge Soleimani's death by killing Trump and other US leaders, such as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and military commanders implicated in the assassination. "God willing, we are trying to kill Trump (and) Pompeo," Revolutionary Guards air force commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh told a state-run media outlet last year.
The FBI also said Farahani recruited people with ties to "religious sites, businesses and other facilities" in the US for surveillance work.
