Fri Dec 20 18:56:24 UTC 2024: ## US Charges Iranian Officer with Murder of American Citizen in Retaliation for Soleimani Killing
**Baghdad, Iraq/Washington D.C.** – The United States Department of Justice announced on Friday the indictment of Mohammad Reza Nouri, an alleged officer of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), for the murder of American citizen Stephen Troell in Baghdad in 2022. The indictment alleges that the killing was orchestrated as revenge for the U.S. assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani two years earlier.
Troell, who worked at an English-language institute in Iraq, was reportedly in the country in a private capacity. However, the Justice Department claims Nouri mistakenly believed Troell to be an American or Israeli intelligence officer. The indictment accuses Nouri of surveilling Troell and providing the gunmen who killed him with weapons, vehicles, and safe harbor.
Nouri is currently in Iraq, where he was previously arrested and convicted for his role in the killing. While five individuals – four Iraqis and one Iranian identified as Mohammed Ali Ridha by the Associated Press last year – received life sentences for Troell’s murder, the U.S. indictment marks a separate action against Nouri, targeting him for terrorism and murder.
Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that the Department of Justice “will not tolerate terrorists and authoritarian regimes targeting and murdering Americans anywhere in the world.” The charges come amidst heightened regional tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with Washington imposing further sanctions on Tehran and expressing concerns over its nuclear program. The timing also coincides with the upcoming change in U.S. presidential administration.
This indictment is the latest in a series of accusations by the U.S. government against Iran for alleged plots to kill dissidents and Americans globally. Iran has consistently denied these accusations.
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