Situation Report: Armed man arrested after trying to gain access to Iranian dissident’s home in NYC

This week, a man armed with a loaded AK-47 was arrested outside of the New York home of the American-Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad. Alinejad is a longtime women’s rights activist and journalist who fled from Iran to the U.S. in 2009.

The man, twenty-three-year-old Khalid Mehdiyev, captured on Ring camera surveillance, lurked outside of Alinejad’s residence for two days. Police discovered the assault rifle, a high-capacity magazine and approximately $1000 in cash stuffed in a suitcase in the trunk of his car. According to police, the assailant was pulled over for failing to comply with a stop sign a block from Alinejad’s home. Now, the suspect is facing multiple federal charges and is being held without bail.

In an interview with The New York Times, Alinejad voiced her fear and concern over the incident. “I came here in America to be safe. First, they were trying to kidnap me. And now I see a man with a loaded gun trying to enter my house. I mean, it’s shocking.” Just over one year ago, Masih was victim to another disturbing plot coordinated by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

On July 13 2021, an Iranian intelligence official and his three assets were charged by federal prosecutors in New York with plotting to kidnap Alinejad. While the regime was ultimately unsuccessful in their efforts, the depth and longevity of the plot was eye-opening.

The Iranian dissident is known for confronting the regime’s abuse of women, specifically its compulsory headscarves policy. The attention she garnered for women’s rights protests infuriated the regime. “It’s just obvious that they were going to execute me,” Alinejad told NPR’s Morning Edition in an interview last year. “They announced that several times.”

While Alinejad’s attempted abduction gained widespread attention, Iran’s kidnapping ploys are nothing new. One year prior to the foiled kidnapping scheme, exiled Iranian journalist Ruhollah Zam was unjustly detained in Iraq. Zam was accused by the Iranian officials of aiding in the anti-regime mass protests that swept Tehran in 2019. He was executed two months later.

The regime’s willingness to conduct state-sponsored terror operations abroad has not dwindled since the Alinejad plot was foiled last July. Three months ago, Israeli officials confirmed that its intelligence agency helped thwart an extensive Iranian plot that targeted an Israeli consulate employee in Turkey, a U.S. general in Germany and a journalist in France. The branch tasked with conducting operations abroad, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp’s (IRGC) Quds Force, reportedly planned to carry out these three attacks alongside major players in the transnational crime organization space.

Despite Iran’s brazen plots on U.S. soil, the Biden administration has not called off the ongoing joint U.S.-Iranian nuclear negotiations that have stalled in Vienna. Following this week’s incident, Alinejad pressured the White House to expel Iranian diplomats from the country, stating that “The Iranian regime twice challenged the US government on US soil. I deserve to have freedom in the United States of America. Kick them out. If you don’t, believe me, they’re going to come after more American citizens.”