By Aaron Miller-
Two Canadians have been charged for planning to conduct assassinations in the U.S. on behalf of Iran’s intelligence services, allegations in a newly unsealed indictment state.
The suspects are accused of plotting to shoot a man and woman living in Maryland, one of them a defector from Iran. Mr
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Zindashti (pictured)- who US and UK officials say operates a criminal network targeting Iranian dissidents around the world on behalf of the Iranian government – agreed to pay Mr Ryan, 43, and Pearson, 29, a total of $350,000 plus $20,000 in travel expenses
The charges by the U.S. Department of Justice include details of the alleged plot, including the sum the would-be killers had charged for the job: $350,000 US.
Revelations of the charges emerge at a time of high tension with Iran, as retaliation from the U.S looms high following three U.S. military members killed in an attack by an Iran-backed militia.
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The indictment identifies one Canadian suspect as Damion Patrick John Ryan, a full-patch member of the Hells Angels criminal gang who allegedly assembled a team of gunmen in late 2020 and early 2021.
He was allegedly working with another Canadian, Adam Richard Pearson, who was living illegally in Minnesota at the time.
They were hired by an accused Iranian drug-dealer who operates on the instructions of a certain officer with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, according to the U.S.
According to the indictment, Pearson promised that he would recruit people and promised to tell them to shoot the victims repeatedly in the head in order to make an example of them.
He also reportedly texted Ryan to say, of one intended victim: “We gotta erase his head from his torso.”
The United States government also announced financial sanctions against the network run by the alleged drug-dealer, Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti in sperate developments.
Zindashti and his criminal operation based in Iran is said to have been given free rein by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
The criminal group carries out operations on multiple continents, of dissidents and opponents of the Iranian regime; according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
U.S authorities said the assassination plot against them was stopped before it could be carried out.
“Thanks to the skilled work of federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents, this murder-for-hire conspiracy was disrupted and the defendants will face justice,” said U.S. prosecutor Andrew Luger, based in Minnesota.
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