Facing My Would-Be Assassins
Iranian dissident and RDI Frontline Fellow Masih Alinejad: The men hired to murder me were convicted. Now the US should stand up to the regime that sent them.
By Masih Alinejad
The first time I saw him nearly three years ago, he was standing outside my house. I didn’t realize at the time that the Islamic Republic of Iran had paid him to kill me.
I was in my garden—my happy place—picking cucumbers and basil, when I spotted a gigantic man. He seemed somewhat normal at first and I was used to people coming up to my garden to admire my sunflowers. But then something felt wrong. I grew suspicious and ran inside.
A bit after that first run-in, that same burly and dark-haired man walked up to my Brooklyn home on a beautiful July day, peered inside, knocked on the door, and even tried to break in. He had a loaded AK-47 automatic weapon nestled comfortably in his car parked right outside.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been after my head for years, hoping to silence me with intimidation, harassment, and now, murder. I have long been a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic. As the founder of the "My Stealthy Freedom" campaign against compulsory hijab, my calls for Iranian women to reject forced veiling drew the ire of the regime. I was seen as challenging the very foundation of the regime's control over its people.
The threats against me became even more sinister after I publicly supported the US operation that killed Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani. The Ayatollahs saw my advocacy as direct collaboration with the “Great Satan.”
The July 2022 attempt was at least the third time that Islamic Republic agents had come after me. A year earlier, they had tried to kidnap me in Brooklyn, planning to transport me to Venezuela, an ally of the Ayatollahs, and then to Iran. When that failed, the Revolutionary Guards turned to Azerbaijani criminals.
The Day I Faced the Men Who Tried to Kill Me
Fast forward to the trial in New York where I faced my would-be assassins. I was a ball of emotions—I felt nervous, worried, and generally sick to my stomach.
But I overcame those feelings. I looked them straight in the eyes—the men who tried to kill me in my Brooklyn home, and the Iranian regime that sent them. That day, they saw that I am still standing, still speaking, and still fighting, and that they would not get away with attempted murder.
Some of the details that emerged from the trial were even more disturbing and chilling than I knew. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards team had surveilled my home and had numerous photographs of me and my family. They even knew my routines—where and when I would buy coffee, when I watered my garden, and when I was on my phone.
The evidence was overwhelming. After deliberating for just three hours, a federal jury returned guilty verdicts against two Russian mob members, Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, hired by Iran to kill me in my Brooklyn home.
Khalid Mehdiyev, the hulking presence at my door in July 2022, had already pleaded guilty and testified for the government. Mehdiyev contemplated burning down my house and sent me messages via WhatsApp and Telegram pretending to be an asylum seeker. “I was trying to have a conversation with her so I can get into her life,” Mehdiyev explained in court. “I was trying to get the easy way to kill her.” Why? “Azerbaijan government wants to do gift to the Iran government,” Mehdiyev told the court.
At one point he saw me on my porch and went to his car to get his gun. By the time he returned though, I had gone inside, and he aborted his mission.
“Ask her for a flower and take her to the back garden,” one message from his handler Omarov read. Another read how my death would be a “birthday gift” for one of the planners who added more instructions on how to finish me off. “Put one more bullet on journalist head.”
The US Can’t Be a Playground for Dictators
Some may find the Islamic Republic's actions unsurprising. After all, the regime continues to be the leading sponsor of terror in the Middle East—backing Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
But this is different. Just last November, the FBI foiled yet another attempt, the third on these shores, and arrested two men who had been hired by an Iranian Revolutionary Guards operative who was tasked with arranging the assassination of both me and President Trump. The same Ayatollahs who plotted to kill me had also threatened to kill a US president.
This is not just about one dissident; it is about the safety and sovereignty of the United States itself. If we are going to truly make America secure, then the Islamic Republic must be punished for its brazen acts of terror.
The thugs who were hired to murder me were convicted on five counts, including murder-for-hire. It was the first time the Iranian government was publicly proven to be directly behind these crimes, having hired these murderers to kill me in exchange for $500,000.
For the first time in American history, the Islamic Republic is being held accountable for pursuing its dirty work in the United States, but it’s only a first step at bringing it to an end.
I am deeply grateful to the law enforcement agencies who continue to protect me and help ensure my safety, but I know that I have also been very lucky. I do not want our safety to depend on luck.
For too long, dictators have viewed the United States as a playground for their repression. This must end. We must use all the tools at our disposal. Today, the Trump administration has a unique chance to tell regimes around the world that the United States is not their playground. President Trump, who was targeted by the same operative who tried to orchestrate my murder, has a personal stake in this. It’s time to let these bad actors know that the US will not only arrest and charge the hitmen they hire but also punish the regimes themselves.
A logical next step would be for Congress to pass a recently introduced bipartisan bill called the Deterring External Threats and Ensuring Robust Responses to Egregious and Nefarious Criminal Endeavors (DETERRENCE) Act, which would increase penalties on murder-for-hire criminals, like those who came after me. Congress could also pass the long-delayed Combating Transnational Repression Act, which could go some way to empower law enforcement to track and counter foreign threats against US residents.
Standing in court and facing my assassins was a strange, unnerving feeling—the regime of my birth country is trying to kill me, while the government of my adopted country, the United States of America, is protecting me. And although this trial is over, I know that as long as the Islamic Republic is around, no one is safe. I’m sure they will send more killers after me.
But this fight is bigger than me; it is a battle for every dissident, for every voice that refuses to be silenced. And as long as I am alive in the US, I will make sure the regime in Iran hears me.
Masih Alinejad is an American-Iranian women’s rights activist and journalist. She is the founder of My Stealthy Freedom and United Against Gender Apartheid. She is also the co-founder of the World Liberty Congress and a Frontline Fellow of the Renew Democracy Initiative.
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Thank you, Masih Alinejad. You are an inspiration to so many of us.
Incredibly brave person. Superb and stay safe.