FBI’s Miami office seeks Iranian spy plotting to kill Pompeo and other Trump-era officials

The FBI is looking for an alleged Iranian spy who travels frequently to Venezuela and is believed to have been recruiting people to assassinate former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials, U.S. authorities said.

A notice issued by the FBI Miami field office said that Majid Dastjani Farahani, 41, is wanted for questioning in relation to a series of alleged plots.

Farahani is believed to have been actively recruiting “individuals for various operations in the United States, to include lethal targeting of current and former United States Government officials as revenge” for the U.S.-ordered death of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

“Farahani also reportedly recruited individuals for surveillance activities focused on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities in the United States. Farahani acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security,” it added.

Farahani speaks Farsi, French, Spanish and English and frequently travels between Iran and Venezuela. Officials are asking the public to provide information that might lead to his detention. While the announcement was made out of Miami, it is not clear if the alleged Iranian agent is believed to be in Florida.

According to U.S. officials, the plot against U.S. government officials comes at a time when Iran seeks revenge for the 2020 killing of Soleimani, which took place when Pompeo was Secretary of State.

Soleimani was killed in Iraq in a drone strike in January 2020 on orders of President Donald Trump. According to a story published by the website Semafor, the FBI believes Iran is also targeting Brian Hook, Trump’s envoy to Tehran.

Farahani was sanctioned in December by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control along with fellow intelligence officer Mohammad Mahdi Khanpour Ardestani for the violent repression of peaceful dissidents and for plotting actions against foreign officials.

“Farahani and Ardestani also recruited individuals for surveillance activities focused on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities in the United States,” a Treasury press release in December said.