On Tuesday, news reports began to circulate, announcing the hunt for an Iranian named Majid Dastjani Farahani.
According to the FBI, “[he] is wanted for questioning in connection with the recruitment of individuals for various operations in the United States, to include lethal targeting of current and former United States Government officials as revenge for the killing of IRGC-QF Commander Qasem Soleimani.”
At the direction of ex-President Donald Trump, Soleimani was assassinated in January 2020 by a U.S. drone strike close to a Baghdad airport.
Individuals targeted for retaliatory actions by Iran include former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, ex-national security adviser John Bolton, former U.S. special representative for Iran Brian Hook, and various other present and former U.S. government officials.
Image: FBI.gov – Most Wanted – Majid Dastjani Farahani
The FBI stated that Farahani is under suspicion for allegedly recruiting individuals to conduct surveillance on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities in the United States.
He is believed to be acting or representing Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) directly or indirectly.
Adrian Calamel, an expert on the Middle East and terrorism, warned that when a MOIS agent arrives in a country, all alarm bells should be ringing and caution should be exercised.
There are any number of tasks the Iranian secret agent could have been assigned to do. “But the reason the FBI is looking for Farahani, if he is indeed a MOIS agent, is because they are the individuals who have traditionally carried out assassinations abroad,” Calamel explained.
Calamel offered several questions that must be answered: “Does the FBI have a solid lead on Farahani or his alleged plot? How did he get into the country and how long has he been here? Is he even still in the country?” Apart from those questions, he wonders if the FBI even knows his true identity. According to him, all MOIS agents use pseudonyms.
“Generally,” he said, “Iran’s assassination operations would be set up by a MOIS agent, coordinating everything that would need to take place, but in many cases, the agent would be out of the country when another team comes in and takes over to carry out the operation.”
According to Calamel’s sources inside the Islamic Republic of Iran, “[the Middle Eastern country’s] stated goal is to drop an American official on U.S. soil for the Soleimani strike, which also killed Iraqi PMU commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.”
“Even with all the unrest in the Middle East and relatively frequent attacks against our military and our foreign interests,” Calamel warned, “we still have not seen Iran’s response to the death of Soleimani.” According to him, “What they want to show more than anything is that they can come out and touch us on our soil just like we did there—and that should have all U.S. national security agencies on alert.”
The FBI is requesting individuals with information about the plot to reach out to their local FBI office or the nearest American embassy or consulate.
Farahani, who also speaks Spanish, is known to move frequently between Iran and Venezuela. Calamel said, “Iran has definitely planted themselves on our southern doorstep, propping up the [Nicolas] Maduro regime in the failed state [of Venezuela].” In his opinion, “Iran saw the vacuum and they filled it.”
“Sitting at our backdoor,” Calamel said, “Iran is using Venezuela as a narco-state.” But he pointed out, the northern coast of South America isn’t the only region that helps facilitate their criminal and terrorist interests. “Outside of the government in Argentina,” he said, “everybody is aligned with the Islamic Republic.”
Calamel also said that Iran’s presence further north is “concerning,” referring to the Panamanian province of Los Santos. He pointed out that Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah and the province are “working hand in glove with one another.” To that end, he said, “there’s full cooperation between them culturally, politically, and militarily.”
And when he considered a clear path between Colombia and Panama, through the Darien Gap, he said, “who knows what Iran and their proxies could move along there if provided an open highway.”
“The potential for something to happen for worse than 9/11 or an assassination plot is there,” Calamel said, warning that “a disaster on our soil might be unavoidable.”
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