The FBI has stepped up its hunt for Iranian agents who allegedly targeted current and former American officials as revenge for an Iranian general’s murder, with an appeal for any information on their whereabouts as the cost of protecting those officials continues to climb.
“Iranian intel officer Majid Dastjani Farahani is wanted for questioning regarding the recruitment of individuals for operations in the U.S., to include lethal targeting of current/former USG officials,” the FBI Miami office wrote in a post on social media platform X.
The FBI claimed Farahani targeted U.S. government officials who were involved in the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, which served as the focus for Farahni’s recruitment activities. He allegedly recruited individuals with connections to religious sites, businesses and “other facilities” in the U.S.
“Farahani acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security,” the FBI wrote on its website.
WILL US DO THE RIGHT THING ON DEFENSE SPENDING? BEIJING, MOSCOW AND TEHRAN WATCH AND WAIT
Iran has repeatedly threatened to take revenge for Soleimani’s killing, just one year ago promising that, “God willing, we are looking to kill Trump [and] Pompeo … and military commanders who issued the order should be killed.”
Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Forces, was killed in a Jan. 3, 2020 U.S. strike in Baghdad days after Iranian-backed militia supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.
Threats have often accompanied new Iranian shows of force, such as the announcement of a new long-range cruise missile capable of striking targets within a 1,000-mile range. Iran initially responded to Soleimani’s killing with missile strikes against U.S. troops stationed at two bases in Iraq, which failed to kill any American soldiers.
The renewed push to catch Iranian intel operatives comes as new details emerge that the Secret Service continued to monitor former Trump National Security Council advisors John Bolton and Robert O’Brien long after they left their positions, explicitly due to the potential threats from Iran.
IRAN VIOLENTLY CLAMPS DOWN ON CHRISTIANS AMID REPORTS OF TORTURE, FINES AND FLOGGINGS
CBS program “60 Minutes,” through a Freedom of Information Act request, learned that the protection cost was around $12 million a year to maintain. The documents did not specify Iran, but “60 Minutes” separately verified that the order related to Iranian threats.
The Department of Homeland Security documents related to the protection order disclosed that the protection details included 24-hour coverage by dedicated special agents who covered them at home and in their offices, as well as during domestic and foreign travel.
“60 Minutes” called the level and duration of protection for both men atypical, especially as Bolton did not receive any protection after initially leaving the White House. His protection started in 2021, around the time the Department of Justice (DOJ) identified a plot to kill Bolton.
Former President Trump had ordered the protection details upon his departure from office, and President Biden ordered the Secret Service to extend both men’s protection after an initial six-month detail.
UK-OWNED SHIP STRUCK BY HOUTHIS SINKS, FIRST VESSEL LOST DURING WAR
The protection initially cost around $2 million for each man during the six-month period, doubling each time the president renewed the order. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas signed each protection approval.
The FBI has not explained why it made its appeal now and why it targeted Florida. FBI Public Affairs Specialist James Marshall directed Fox News Digital to a Treasury designation of sanctions against human rights abusers published in December in response to a query on the issue.
The designation, issued on the 75th anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, targeted more than 150 individuals “for issues relating to human rights abuse.”
“These designations have leveraged numerous sanctions authorities and have targeted a range of activities that violate or abuse human rights and betray the vision laid out in the UDHR,” the statement read.
“Treasury designations also targeted instances of human rights abuse linked to terrorist organizations, criminal activity, repression of LGBTQI+ persons, transnational repression, and environmental crime and degradation,” it explained.
The DOJ in Aug. 2022 charged members of the IRGC with “use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire and with providing and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot.”
Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi of Tehran, had attempted to arrange the murder of Bolton in 2021, according to the DOJ filing.
“Iran has a history of plotting to assassinate individuals in the U.S. it deems a threat, but the U.S. Government has a longer history of holding accountable those who threaten the safety of our citizens,” Executive Assistant Director Larissa L. Knapp of the FBI’s National Security Branch said in 2022.
Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall and Greg Norman contributed to this report.
