Defendant worked on behalf of the IRGC to hire persons in the United States to carry out the murder, likely in retaliation for the January 2020 death of Qasem Soleimani.

Soleimani was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. From 1998 until his assassination, he was the commander of the Quds Force, an IRGC division primarily responsible for extraterritorial and clandestine military operations.

Soleimani was killed in a targeted drone strike on January 3, 2020 in Baghdad, Iraq, on the orders of U.S. President Donald Trump.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/member-irans-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-irgc-charged-plot-murder-former-national

Criminal Complaint

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1525111/download

Statement by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/10/statement-by-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-on-irans-continued-targeting-of-u-s-citizens/