Two indicted in US for allegedly spying for Iran

World
Europe

United States authorities say two Iranian men were indicted on Monday for allegedly spying for Tehran in the US.

The Justice Department said Ahmadreza Mohammadi-Doostdar, 38, a dual US-Iranian citizen, and Majid Ghorbani, 59, an Iranian citizen and resident of California, were arrested on August 9.

It is claimed that, among other things, they conducted surveillance at a Jewish facility and gathered information on backers of the militant Iranian opposition Mujahideen-e Khalq.

The indictment alleges Doostdar traveled from Iran to the United States in July 2017 to collect intelligence about entities considered to be enemies of the Iranian government, including Israeli and Jewish interests as well as people associated with MEK, it said.

The Justice Department said Doostdar conducted surveillance in July 2017 of an ultra-orthodox Jewish facility in Chicago, the Rohr Chabad House, including photographing the security features.

Ghorbani attended an MEK rally in New York on September 20, 2017, to protest the current Iranian government, taking photographs of the participants, which he later passed on to Doostdar and was paid about 2,000 US dollars.

The photos, many with handwritten notes about the participants, were found in Ghorbani’s luggage at a US airport as he was returning to Iran in December 2017, the Justice Department said.

Ghorbani also attended an MEK-affiliated Iran Freedom Convention for Human Rights in Washington in May, where he again appeared to photograph speakers and attendees, the department said. He later spoke with Doostdar to discuss clandestine methods to deliver the information to Iran, it said.

Iran considers the Mujahideen-e Khalq to be a terrorist group that seeks the overthrow of the government in Tehran. The group was listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department until 2012.

Source(s): Reuters