A British-Iranian man has alleged that he was approached in an alleged murder-for-hire attempt after a man he believed was linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps offered him £40,000 to help kill a London-based journalist critical of Tehran, according to The Jewish Chronicle.
The man, identified by the newspaper under the pseudonym “Nima,” said the encounter began during a holiday in southern Europe after he visited an Iranian restaurant, where several people were discussing life in Britain and possible plans to reach the UK.
Nima, who has worked as a bartender in Britain for about a decade, told the outlet that two men approached him near the end of the evening. One was a man he recognized from Iran. The other claimed he wanted to open a bar in London as part of a visa plan and asked for Nima’s contact details.
At first, Nima said, the conversation appeared to be a business discussion. But he told the newspaper that a second meeting hours later felt different. The man arrived with two others and began referring to personal details about Nima’s life in Britain and his relatives in Iran.
“He told me: ‘You are a decent man. You have family in Iran who need your support. I would like to offer you a job, with an initial payment of £40,000,’” Nima told the JC.
According to the report, the conversation then turned to Nima’s social media activity and an Iranian journalist based in London with whom he had argued online. The journalist works for an anti-regime Persian-language broadcaster.
Nima said the man told him he wanted to “punish” the journalist and asked whether Nima could carry out the act himself or find someone else who could.
“The offer was immediate,” Nima told the JC. “He told me I could receive £20,000 in cash that day, and the rest once I identified the journalist’s location. They believed he was living in a safe house.”
The man also asked Nima whether he was still using cannabis and who supplied it, suggesting that someone with links to drugs might be willing to act for money, Nima said.
According to the report, the acquaintance Nima recognized encouraged him to accept the offer. Nima said the man told him the money could help him buy a home and support his child.
Nima said the alleged connection to the IRGC was not stated directly. But he told the JC that the implication became clear when the acquaintance used the Persian term “Sepah,” commonly used to refer to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“He told me: ‘You could even return to Iran. There is no one above Sepah,’” Nima said.
Nima described the end of the meeting as a veiled threat. He said the man told him he should at least contact the journalist and find out where he lived, then reminded him that his parents were still in Iran.
Nima said he left the meeting by saying he would think about the offer. Instead, he returned to Britain, reported the approach to police and warned the journalist, according to the JC.
“I feel like I am being watched,” he said. “Like they could come after me at any time.”
The report comes amid heightened concern in Britain over alleged Iran-linked threats against dissidents, journalists and Jewish and Israeli targets. MI5 Director General Ken McCallum has warned that the Iranian regime, acting through the IRGC, poses a “potentially lethal” threat.
The Jewish Chronicle also cited wider concerns about Iran-aligned activity in Britain and Europe, including threats to dissidents and journalists. Western governments and security agencies have long accused the IRGC of using proxy networks and overseas pressure campaigns against critics of Tehran.
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