View original document

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

9/4/2021

Treasury Sanctions Iranian Intelligence Network Targeting Iranian-American Activist in the United States | U.S. Departme…

Treasury Sanctions Iranian Intelligence Network Targeting
Iranian-American Activist in the United States
September 3, 2021

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s O ice of Foreign Assets
Control (OFAC) is designating four Iranian intelligence operatives who targeted a U.S. citizen
in the United States and Iranian dissidents in other countries as part of a wide-ranging
campaign to silence critics of the Iranian government. Senior intelligence o icial Alireza
Shahvaroghi Farahani led a network that plotted the kidnapping of a U.S. journalist and
human rights activist, a failed plot that led to the indictment of members of the network in
late July. Consistent with the well-documented role of the Ministry of Intelligence and
Security (MOIS) in domestic repression, this operation demonstrates the pernicious role of
Iran’s intelligence apparatus in targeting Iranians abroad, to include brazen attempts to
return dissidents to Iran.
“The Iranian government’s kidnapping plot is another example of its continued attempt to
silence critical voices, wherever they may be,” said Director of the O ice of Foreign Assets
Control, Andrea M. Gacki. “Targeting dissidents abroad demonstrates that the government’s
repression extends far beyond Iran’s borders.”
The United States will continue to hold accountable authoritarian governments that resort
to transnational repression, whether to target dissidents, journalists, or opposition leaders.
These actions threaten the rules-based international order and undermine collective peace
and security.
Today’s action is being taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13553. MOIS was previously
designated pursuant to E.O. 13553 in 2012 for being responsible for, or complicit in, the
commission of serious human rights abuses against Iranian people since June 12, 2009.
MOIS has played a key role in the Iranian government’s brutal human rights abuses against
Iranians. Iranian repression, o en carried out at the hands of MOIS, has also stretched
beyond Iran's borders, with a string of similar plots in Europe and elsewhere.

U.S. KIDNAPPING PLOT
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0343

1/2

9/4/2021

Treasury Sanctions Iranian Intelligence Network Targeting Iranian-American Activist in the United States | U.S. Departme…

Senior Iran-based intelligence o icial 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 payablethrough account sanctions.
View identifying information on the individuals and entities designated today.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0343

2/2