Iran hires Hells Angels to kidnap and kill defectors in the US and Europe

The Islamic Republic of Iran hires Hells Angels and other criminal groups based in Western countries to target its critics in exile.

An explosive report in the Washington Post claims that Tehran has recruited thugs to kidnap and murder Iranian dissidents in democratic countries such as the United States, Germany and Britain.

The Russian gang Thieves in Law, a heroin distribution network run by an Iranian drug trafficker, and violent groups from Scandinavia to South America have reportedly been recruited by the Iranian government to do its bidding.

The exiles targeted by the Iranian regime include a former Iranian military officer hiding in Maryland, an Iranian-American journalist in Brooklyn and a journalist in London.

British citizen Pouria Zeraati was stabbed four times on the pavement outside his home in Wimbledon, a suburb of London, on March 29. The attack came after years of threats and intimidation that led him to move to safe accommodation for a while.

The London Metropolitan Police assumes that Tehran hired criminals from Eastern Europe for the attack.

Investigators said the criminals pursued Zeraati for days and fled on a plane just hours after the attack. Officials believe the attackers may have wanted Zeraati to survive the stabbing to scare him but avoid an international scandal.

Zeraati's attackers were not caught.

MI5 and the Metropolitan Police have investigated more than 16 attacks in the Islamic Republic over the past two years, the Post reported.

According to the Washington Institute, there have been 88 assassinations, kidnappings and other violent plots linked to Iran in the past five years. Criminal groups were involved in at least 14 of these attacks.

In the US, the Justice Department last month filed charges against a Pakistani man with ties to Iran, alleging he was planning to hire a hitman to kill politicians, possibly including former President Donald Trump.

Former Trump officials Mike Pompeo and John Bolton are also targets of Tehran's conspiracies aimed at revenge for the US killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader Qasem Soleimani.

Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati, a British citizen, was stabbed four times on the pavement outside his home in Wimbledon, a suburb of London, on March 29. He is pictured on a “WANTED” poster issued by the Republic of Iran.

German authorities say Tehran recruited fugitive Hells Angels boss Ramin Yektaparast to organize and carry out terrorist attacks on synagogues.

In Brooklyn, officials foiled a plot to assassinate American-Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad. The plot involved Thieves in Law member Khalid Mehdiyev, who showed up at her doorstep.

Alinejad was the target of at least three attacks, one of which aimed to kidnap her from New York and take her by boat to Venezuela.

“There are a lot of people in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, and it is very easy for them to get a visa and come here to work,” she told The Post.

Tehran has also reportedly outsourced murders and kidnappings to Iranian drug trafficker Naji Sharifi Zindashti, described as a “Pablo Escobar-type drug trafficker.”

In Turkey, Sweden-based activist Habib Chaab was kidnapped during a visit to Turkey in 2020. He was smuggled to Iran by Zindashti activists, where he was tortured and executed in 2023.

Zindashti is also accused of negotiating a $350,000 contract with two Hells Angels members in Canada to kill an Iranian defector and his wife who were hiding in Maryland under false identities.

The defector was not named, but was identified as a former IRGC officer who worked as an informant for the CIA.

Tehran has also reportedly outsourced murders and kidnappings to Iranian drug trafficker Naji Sharifi Zindashti, described as a “Pablo Escobar-type drug trafficker.”

Canadian Hells Angels gangster Damion Ryan, 43, was reportedly hired to attack an Iranian dissident in Maryland

Damion Ryan, 43, who has a long criminal record in Canada, has been named as the main man responsible for the failed plot against the defector. He is accused of recruiting 29-year-old Adam R. Pearson, who was hiding in Minneapolis to avoid arrest on murder charges in Canada.

German authorities believe that Tehran recruited the fugitive Hells Angels boss Ramin Yektaparast to organize and carry out terrorist attacks on synagogues.

In the course of the war in the Gaza Strip, Tehran also became involved in plots against American and Israeli politicians in France and Germany.

As the Washington Post notes, other authoritarian regimes around the world have begun to adopt Tehran's strategy of recruiting criminals from the West.

Last year, a Sikh activist was killed in Canada and another was attacked in New York by criminals hired by Indian intelligence.

Meanwhile, last year Russia hired gangsters in Spain to kill a military pilot who had defected to Ukraine and settled in the Mediterranean.

When the Post contacted Iran, it denied the allegations.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention or plan to participate in assassination or kidnapping operations, either in the West or in any other country,” said a statement from Tehran's mission to the United Nations.

“These lies are inventions of the Zionist regime, the Albanian-based Mujahideen terrorist sect and certain Western intelligence services – including the United States – designed to distract from the atrocities of the Israeli regime.”