As the federal trial in Manhattan continues for individuals allegedly hired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to assassinate Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, revelations have surfaced regarding Tehran’s alleged involvement in assassinating dissidents in Europe. These disclosures could significantly impact President Trump’s Iran policy.

Experts say the trial of the two suspects, coupled with a former IRGC founder’s claims that the ayatollahs ordered the killings of exiled Iranians, intensifies the urgency to address Iran’s threats against President , former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Iranian-American critics.

Mohsen Rafiqdoost, a former high-ranking IRGC official and bodyguard to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, admitted in a video interview to overseeing operations targeting Iranian dissidents living abroad.

Speaking to Didehban-e Iran, an Iranian regime-controlled media outlet, he named former Iranian Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar, artist Fereydoun Farrokhzad (murdered in Bonn, Germany), and military officials Gholam-Ali Oveissi and Shahriar Shafiq as targets.

Rafiqdoost stated that a Basque separatist group in Spain carried out these assassinations on behalf of Iran, in exchange for payment.

Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), characterized Rafiqdoost’s comments as “an admission of guilt” that should be used whenever Iranian officials deny involvement in assassination plots. He added that the trial serves as a reminder of the regime’s “real” and “potentially lethal” terror threat that won’t disappear by ignoring it.

Last week, G-7 foreign ministers issued a joint statement condemning Iran as “the principal source of regional instability” and emphasizing that it “must never be allowed to develop and acquire a nuclear weapon.” They demanded that Iran “change course, de-escalate and choose diplomacy,” and highlighted concerns about Iran’s increasing use of arbitrary detention and foreign assassination attempts “as a tool of coercion.”

The “foreign assassination attempts” reference marks a particularly strong collective condemnation of Iran’s alleged efforts to assassinate Trump, Alinejad, and other Iranian dissidents globally.

In November, reported that the Justice Department had thwarted an assassination plot against Trump in the weeks leading up to the election.

Iran expert Lisa Daftari told Digital that the revelation of Iran’s global assassination campaign underscores the extent to which authoritarian regimes will go to suppress dissent and exert control beyond their borders, which she views as “a blatant attack on international norms and a direct threat to global security.” She called for a decisive response from the United States, beyond mere words, and suggested that President Trump’s policy of deporting those who espouse terrorism is insufficient to deter the Iranian leadership.

Daftari, editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk, emphasized the need for stronger intelligence collaboration with allies and increased pressure on the IRGC through sanctions and other punitive measures to send the message that there is “no place for state-sponsored terrorism on our soil.”

The U.S. and Canada have classified the IRGC as a terrorist organization, but the United Kingdom and the European Union have resisted this designation, despite numerous alleged IRGC terrorism plots and assassinations in Europe.

Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, a German-Iranian expert on Tehran’s assassination campaigns, described the former IRGC leader as belonging to a group of conservative Islamists who “have never hidden the crimes they committed” and “take pride in the fact that opponents of the regime were executed in exile.”

Digital has reached out to the German federal prosecutor’s office and the prosecutor’s office in Bonn, where Farrokhzad was murdered, to inquire about reopening the case.

Mina Ahadi, a prominent German-Iranian dissident, mentioned Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s former ambassador to Germany and current researcher at Princeton University, calling for his arrest.

Digital reported in April 2024 that Mousavian was accused of playing a role in the assassination of Iranian dissidents in Europe in the 1990s, including Farrokhzad. Mousavian, ambassador to Germany from 1990 to 1997, has strongly denied involvement in the 1992 killings of Kurdish dissidents at a Berlin restaurant.

Following Trump’s order to kill Qassem Soleimani, a U.S. and EU-designated Iranian regime terrorist, in Iraq in 2020, Mousavian praised Soleimani on a 2022 Iranian TV program and attended his funeral in Iran. The U.S. government held Soleimani responsible for the deaths of over 600 American military personnel in the Middle East.

Mousavian addressed the so-called Chain Murders in Iran, a state-sponsored campaign targeting Iranian dissidents between 1986 and 1998, on X. He stated that he was the Iranian Ambassador to Germany when Fereydoun Farrokhzad was murdered in Bonn in 1992, and that he and his embassy colleagues made extensive efforts to facilitate the return of Iranians residing in Germany who wished to return to Iran.

Mousavian’s tweet further claimed that Tehran assured him that Farrokhzad was assassinated by the Iranian opposition abroad, which he then relayed to German authorities and in interviews.

He concluded by expressing his hope that figures like Farrokhzad, who were willing to return to their homeland, could have done so safely, emphasizing that “It is in Iran’s national interest to use the potential of Iranians living abroad and ensure their full security for their return to their homeland.”

Mousavian did not respond to multiple Digital email press queries, including a WhatsApp message and telephone call.

Lawdan Bazargan, an Iranian-American human rights activist, questioned Mousavian’s account, suggesting that the Iranian regime has lured dissidents back to Iran only to execute them, citing the case of Javad Safar. She also noted the regime’s use of sophisticated surveillance to lure prominent dissidents to countries with lax security for kidnapping and forced return to Iran.

She cited the case of Ruhollah Zam, who was tricked by the regime and executed in 2020. Zam’s website and social media platforms were instrumental in disseminating information about protests against the clerical regime and exposing widespread corruption.

Digital’s numerous press queries to Iran’s foreign ministry and U.N. mission have gone unanswered.

‘ Greg Norman contributed to this report.