ITV News has disclosed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of Iran devised a plot to assassinate two Iranian journalists based in the United Kingdom. The plan involved employing a people smuggler to coordinate and execute the killings, with a monetary exchange of $200,000. The intended targets were Fardad Farahzad, a current presenter at the Persian-language news channel Iran International, and Sima Sabet, a former presenter. The ITV News investigation, aired on December 20, brought this information to light.
Associates of Bashar al-Assad from Damascus were behind the orchestrated assassination plot against the two presenters. Mohammadreza Ansari, a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), played a pivotal role as the main architect of the plan. According to ITV, the hired individual initially collaborated with the IRGC in 2016 within the shipping industry but later joined a Western intelligence agency. In 2022, when the IRGC approached him to carry out the assassination of the two presenters, he promptly informed the relevant intelligence agency about the plot.
The Iranian Resistance vehemently condemns the assassination plot targeting Sima Sabet and Fardad Farahzad. This act of terrorism by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) underscores the urgent need to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization.