THE NORDIC MONITOR -- A US federal lawsuit alleges that Iranian intelligence agents used Turkey as an operational base to threaten, assault and attempt to assassinate an Iranian-American dissident.
Iranian intelligence services were allegedly allowed to operate with remarkable freedom inside Turkey under Erdoğan’s government, according to details contained in a lawsuit filed in a US federal court.
The complaint was filed by Iranian-American activist and former journalist Akbar Amirzadeh Irani, who is identified in court documents as Alex Smith. He accuses Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC of pursuing him because of his reporting on corruption, illicit financial networks and human rights abuses inside Iran.
According to the lawsuit, Iranian agents repeatedly threatened him while he was living in Turkey between 2023 and 2025. Two Iranian nationals working with a Turkish citizen allegedly attacked his Istanbul office in an assassination attempt.