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3. Brooklyn Man Sentenced in Iran-Linked Plot to Kill Exiled Journalist

A Brooklyn man was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years in prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot targeting Masih Alinejad, a prominent Iranian journalist and critic of the Islamic Republic, in a case U.S. authorities say was directed by Iran’s elite military and intelligence apparatus.

Carlisle Rivera, 50, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit stalking after prosecutors said he agreed to track and assassinate Alinejad on instructions from operatives linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman imposed the sentence on Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan.

According to court filings, Rivera was recruited in 2024 by Farhad Shakeri, an Iranian national described by U.S. officials as an IRGC asset. Shakeri allegedly offered Rivera $100,000 to locate and kill Alinejad in New York, where she lives under heavy security after years of threats linked to her reporting and activism.

Prosecutors said Rivera and an accomplice conducted surveillance on Alinejad, followed her to public events, stalked locations believed to be her residence, and obtained a firearm using funds transferred from Iran. The plot was disrupted before it could be carried out, and Rivera was arrested in November 2024, with investigators recovering a weapon with a partially obliterated serial number from his home.

A Pattern of Targeting Dissidents Abroad

U.S. authorities described the case as part of a broader campaign by Tehran to silence critics living overseas. Alinejad has long been a high-profile target due to her work exposing human rights abuses, corruption, and discrimination against women in Iran.

Court documents show this was not the first attempt to eliminate her. In previous years, Iranian intelligence services allegedly plotted to kidnap her from the United States, while a separate 2022 case involved an alleged plan to kill her using criminal networks tied to organized crime. Those efforts also failed.

“This case illustrates how far the Iranian state is willing to go to pursue its critics beyond its borders,” U.S. prosecutors said in statements following the sentencing, describing the operation as a direct extension of Iran’s intelligence and security strategy.

Regional Implications

The plot unfolded in New York and resonates well beyond the United States, particularly in the Middle East, where Iran’s intelligence reach and use of proxy actors has long been a source of tension.

The IRGC, which answers directly to Iran’s supreme leader, has been designated by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization and is accused by Western governments of conducting assassination, surveillance, and intimidation operations against dissidents across Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Rivera was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following his prison term. His co-conspirator has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, while Shakeri remains at large.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division.