Trump, Soleimani and the Iranian International Assassination Network
The Asian Crime Century briefing 82
In the past week there was an attempted assassination of Donald Trump by what is likely to be a ‘lone wolf’ shooter, as well as unrelated revelations that there is an Iranian intent to kill Trump and senior officials from his last presidential administration.
The shooting of Trump by 20 year old Thomas Matthew Crooks seems to be an example of political violence in the USA driven by polarised politics and the highly charged public rhetoric of political leaders that is radicalising some in society.
The threat from Iran is a separate, long term, and more serious risk that is part of a shadow war waged with Iran since 1979. The Asian Crime Century has reported on Iranian state sponsored terrorism and transnational organised crime, to which should be added planned political subversion by assassination. The Iranian vendetta against Donald Trump originates from his order when president for the US military to assassinate Major General Qassem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp on 2 January 2020.
Assassins
The word “assassin” originates from descriptions of the Nizaris, an Ismaili sect of Shiite Islam. The great schism of Islam occurred in AD632, when those who believed that the prophet Mohammed’s successor should be Abu Bakr became known as the Sunnis and those who supported his cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib became the Shias. The Shias fragmented because of disagreements in the following centuries, and the Ismailis were one sect that broke away in the 9th century. In the 11th century this continued fragmentation led to the followers of Prince Nizar parting from the Ismailis, creating the Nizaris.
The Nizaris were led from 1095 by Hassan-I Sabbah, who captured Alamut Castle and built a network of Ismaili fortresses. The Nizaris were a small sect hated by the other Shiites as well as Sunni Muslims, and so developed their own asymmetric military tactics to combat their enemies. One of these was the use of highly trained Fedayeen, “those who sacrifice themselves”, who carried out attacks against political targets and were willing to die doing so. The Nizari Fedayeen fought so fiercely that they were reputed to be using some kind of drug and hence became known in Arabic as the Hashishin, meaning those who smoke hashish, and Assassins as called by the Crusaders and later Marco Polo.
The Assassination of Qassem Soleimani
Major General Qassem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC Qods Force, was killed by missiles fired from a US military Predator drone on 2 January 2020. The US Department of Defence stated that the assassination was a defensive action:
“General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more. He had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months – including the attack on December 27th – culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel. General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week. This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.”
On 3 January, President Trump made direct comments regarding the killing of Soleimani:
“Last night, at my direction, the United States military successfully executed a flawless precision strike that killed the number-one terrorist anywhere in the world, Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him.”
The comments from President Trump claimed direct responsibility for the decision to kill Soleimani, and hence made Trump a target for the Iranian government and its proxies.
In March 2021, the US Department of Justice produced a memorandum with the legal justification for the killing, which stated that “Soleimani had commanded the Qods Force since the late 1990s, serving in that role as "key architect" and "chief executor" of lran's campaign of terrorism, assassinations, and violence throughout the Middle East.”
The US military had known Soleimani for many years, in particular in relation to his direction of Shia militias in Iraq attacking US forces. However, in 2019, Iranian groups including the Qods Force had stepped up attacks on US forces and Soleimani was vocal in his criticism of Trump, also listing in a speech in July 2018 in Hamedan the instances in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen where the US had been humbled by Soleimani’s allies. The US Department of Justice concluded that the killing of Soleimani was legal and that the President has the authority to order such an act under the US Constitution.
The Iranian Assassins
The nature of the most recent threat from Iran to Donald Trump is not clear, but there are reports from officials in the US that security levels for the former president were heightened in recent weeks. The National Security Council had reportedly warned the Secret Service and the Trump campaign team that there was an increased threat from Iran to former President Donald Trump, and the Secret Service had boosted protection for Trump. NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson stated that “we have been tracking Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials for years, dating back to the last administration…These threats arise from Iran’s desire to seek revenge for the killing of Qassem Soleimani. We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority."
The threat from Iran to former Trump administration officials has been well documented by the US authorities. In August 2022, the US Department of Justice announced charges against an Iranian national who was accused of planning the murder of former National Security Advisor John Bolton, which was believed to be in retaliation for the killing of Qasem Soleimani. The accused, Shahram Poursafi, was alleged to be working on behalf of the IRGC and had a background in Qods Force operational planning and surveillance operations in the Caucasus region. He allegedly attempted to pay individuals in the USA $300,000 to carry out the murder in Washington, D.C. or Maryland.
In June 2023, the US Treasury announced sanctions on members and affiliates of the IRGC Qods Force who have participated in a series of activities, including assassination plots targeting former United States government officials, dual U.S. and Iranian nationals, and Iranian dissidents. The sanctions were against three Iran and Turkey-based individuals and a company affiliated with the IRGC, as well as two senior officials of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization who were involved in plotting external the assassinations of journalists and activists.
The US government has had concerns for several years regarding the safety of officials who served in the last Trump administration. In July 2023, the Biden administration asked Congress to approve funds to pay for security protection for former Department of Defence officials, with particular concern for former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, who led the Pentagon during the 2020 U.S. assassination of Soleimani and could be a potential target for revenge. In December 2023, the US government extended security protection for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as well as one of his former aides, indicating the extent of the perceived threat.
The US Treasury Department statement was explicit that IRGC officers had “planned and attempted to assassinate two former U.S. government officials.” These were not freelancers but professional military officers. Mohammad Reza Ansari has allegedly supported Qods Force operations in Syria and is a member of the IRGC external operations unit tasked with undertaking covert operations abroad, including planning and conducting intelligence and assassinations of Iranian dissidents and other non-Iranian nationals in the United States, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Ansari was alleged to have worked with Shahram Poursafi to plan to assassinate John Bolton.
Iranian assassination plans have not been confined to government officials, and the US and UK governments jointly announced in January 2024 action against a network operated by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security that targeted Iranian dissidents and opposition activists for assassination. Once again illustrating the links between the Iranian government and transnational organised crime, the network is allegedly led by Iranian narcotics trafficker Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti, who has conducted assassinations and kidnappings in multiple jurisdictions to assist in silencing critics of the Iranian government.
Iran and its agents make use of foreign nationals to plan and conduct assassinations. Zindashti is alleged to have conspired with two Canadian nationals, Damion Patrick John Ryan and Adam Richard Pearson, to plan to assassinate two residents of the state of Maryland who had previously fled to the US after one of them defected from Iran. Pearson is according to the FBI a “full-patch member of the outlaw Hells Angels Motorcycle Club”.
Zindashti has been openly reported as being involved in transnational drug trafficking including an operation by the Greek police in 2014 to seize two tons of pure heroin, and an arrest by the Turkish police in 2007 with 77 kilograms of heroin. Zindashti has been arrested multiple times in Turkey, but eventually released on each occasion.
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The hand of Iran did not reach out to Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on 13 July when 20 year old Matthew Crooks tried to assassinate him, but the Revolutionary Guard Qods Force as well as other Iranian entities such as the Ministry of Intelligence have been engaged in a year’s long campaign of assassinations that include targeting of Trump and his former administration officials. The Iranian targeting of Trump is directly related to the US assassination in January 2020 of Major General Qassem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC Quds Force. If Donald Trump is re-elected as president of the USA then expect this shadow war with Iran to become more violent.