Tehran Regime Targets U.S. Homeland -- Kill Lists and Kidnappings

This is an abbreviated version of an article published originally under the title "U.S. Mainland Under Threat as Iran Pushes Assassinations, Kidnappings."

Winfield Myers

Amid the report that a top Iranian regime military official on Friday urged the murders of the ex-commander of the United States Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie, former President Trump, and former Secretary State of Mike Pompeo, a new report asserts that Iran is likely behind a “kill list” targeting law enforcement agencies in Boston.

Amirali Hajizadeh, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace, declared during a televised interview last week that, “Inshallah (God willing) we will be able to kill Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo (former) CENTCOM chief Kenneth McKenzie, and others who ordered killing of Qasem Soleimani.”

The U.S. military killed Soleimani with a drone strike in January 2020 because the EU and U.S.-designated terrorist was planning an attack and was responsible for the murder of over 600 American military personnel.

A top Iranian regime military official on Friday urged the murders of the ex-commander of the United States Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie, , and former Secretary State of Mike Pompeo.

The reach of Islamic Republic of Iran terrorist activities impacted the independent TV network Iran International Iran just days ago. The Persian-language TV outlet said it was suspending its London-based operation and relocating to Washington D.C. because of a “significant escalation in state-backed threats from Iran.”

Across the Atlantic, Iran’s regime—which the U.S. State Department classifies as the world’s worst international state-sponsor of terrorism— launched a kidnapping attempt of the Brooklyn-based Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad.

Following the arrest of the three alleged kidnappers, FBI director Christopher Wray noted the very real threat posed by Iran to the U.S. and the world. “The conduct charged in today’s case shows how far Iranian actors are willing to go to silence critics of the Iranian regime—even attempting an assassination right here in the United States. But looking at the threat from Iran more broadly, we’ve seen the Iranian regime become more aggressive and more brazen across vectors.”

Wray continued that “In just the past couple years, actors associated with Iran have launched a ransomware attack on a children’s hospital in New England, attempted to assassinate the former U.S. National Security Advisor on U.S. soil, and now plotted to silence a U.S. citizen—a journalist who publicized the Iranian government’s human rights abuses—by carrying out a murder in the heart of New York City.”

Wray warned, “If that doesn’t show how serious the threat from Iran is to Americans right here in America, I don’t know what does.”

There is a bill of particulars of Iranian assassination plots on U.S. soil. In 2009, Iranian agents sought to murder California resident Jamshid Sharmahd for his opposition to the country. The regime kidnaped Sharmahd when he was in the United Arab Emirates in 2020 and sentenced him to death on Tuesday on reportedly trumped-up charges.

In 2012, the former New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly disclosed during an anti-terror conference that “We’ve been concerned about Iran for a while.”

In 2014, the United States government linked Iran’s regime to the planned assassination of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador in a Washington, D.C., restaurant.

The report, titled “The Unseen Threat of The Mapping Project,” claims there “is considerable evidence that Iranian elements may be involved in creating the Mapping Project.”

A new 24-page report by U.S.-based Zachor Legal Institute outlines what it says are Iranian threats against U.S. targets that include the Boston Police Department, the FBI, and other government and law enforcement agencies.

The report, titled “The Unseen Threat of The Mapping Project,” claims there “is considerable evidence that Iranian elements may be involved in creating the Mapping Project.” The document notes that the Iranian regime-owned PressTV published a “supportive column” on June 26, 2022, and a 30-minute video segment about it in July of the same year that praised the Mapping Project and called for its replication in all 50 American states.

The U.S.-sanctioned outlet PressTV reported, “It is perfectly legitimate to target Jewish groups that support Zionist crimes, just as it is to target Christian groups that do the same. The Mapping project, to its credit is already doing that.”

Rebekah Koffler, a former analyst at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, told Fox News Digital, “It is my professional assessment that there’s a high probability of Iran’s involvement in this heinous project. The project’s stated goals, antisemitic narrative, and methodology employed to galvanize support from extremist sympathizers, are consistent with the tradecraft of Iranian intelligence and Iran’s declared policy to target U.S. persons.”

The Boston Mapping Project was initially thought to be largely limited to planned antisemitic terrorism attacks against Jewish and Israeli organizations in Boston. The Zachor Legal Institute, however, revealed that “out of the roughly 500 entities publicly listed on the Mapping Project website, 298 are American strategic security assets and institutions. This raises concern that the true goal of the project is to map the American security apparatus and that the targeting of the American Jewish community – while real and troubling – may be a façade to obfuscate this plan.”

According to Zachor, “A particularly noteworthy feature of the Mapping Project is that it provides, in meticulous detail, the precise addresses of U.S. government institutions and law enforcement offices. This refers not only to department and agency headquarters but also to numerous local branches and offices of these institutions.”

The Mapping Project provides, in meticulous detail, the precise addresses of U.S. government institutions and law enforcement offices. This refers not only to department and agency headquarters but also to numerous local branches and offices of these institutions.

Tehran’s clerical regime has Iranian dissidents and American officials on its terror assassination radar screen. Koffler noted that “The U.S. government already pays millions of dollars to provide 24/7 security to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former President Trump’s special envoy to Iran Brian Hook, both of whom face, to this day, ‘serious and credible’ threats from Iran.”

The website of the Boston Mapping project declares that, “Our goal in pursuing this collective mapping was to reveal the local entities and networks that enact devastation, so we can dismantle them. Every entity has an address, every network can be disrupted.”

Mariellen Burns, chief of communications for the Boston Police Department, referred Fox News Digital to federal partners. She also noted that, “We are continuously engaged with security and threat briefings with the Jewish Community, and they are aware we are here to help.”

When asked about the report and the alleged list of federal and security targets, a spokesperson for the FBI told Fox News Digital that the organization “has no comment.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council referred Fox News Digital to the State Department.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told Fox News Digital that, “We have no information to provide on this question” with respect to the alleged role of Iran in the Boston Mapping Project.

Koffler said, “The Biden Administration’s security team has been quite enthusiastic about investigating parents under ‘domestic terrorism’ laws. It is stunning that they are ignoring the real and escalating threat ... against our security institutions, such as police stations, air force bases, naval installations, the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, Homeland Security, U.S. Marshals.”

When asked about Iranian plans for such an attack and whether Tehran was behind the mapping project, a spokesperson from the Iranian mission to the United Nations told Fox News Digital that “The group you mentioned isn’t supported in any way by Iran.”

Fox News Digital reporter Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.

Benjamin Weinthal, a Middle East Forum writing fellow, reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe for Fox News Digital. Follow him on Twitter at @BenWeinthal.

Benjamin Weinthal is an investigative journalist and a Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum. He is based in Jerusalem and reports on the Middle East for Fox News Digital and the Jerusalem Post. He earned his B.A. from New York University and holds a M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge. Weinthal’s commentary has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Haaretz, the Guardian, Politico, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Ynet and many additional North American and European outlets. His 2011 Guardian article on the Arab revolt in Egypt, co-authored with Eric Lee, was published in the book The Arab Spring (2012).
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