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Iran’s Quds Force orchestrated a plot to assassinate Rabbi Shneor Segal, a prominent Jewish leader in Azerbaijan, the Washington Post reported Saturday. The scheme, uncovered by Azerbaijani security forces, involved a Georgian drug trafficker and Iranian operatives, marking the latest in a series of targeted attacks linked to Tehran’s campaign against Jewish and Iranian diaspora figures.
The assassination plot, foiled in early January, began when an Iranian Quds Force officer met with Agil Aslanov, a Georgian drug trafficker, and handed him a photo of Rabbi Segal along with instructions to kill him, according to the Post report citing Western and Middle Eastern intelligence officials.
Aslanov agreed to the $200,000 contract but was arrested alongside Azerbaijani accomplice Jeyhun Ismayilov by the State Security Service of Azerbaijan, which charged them with conspiring to commit a terrorist act.
Segal, a community leader in Baku, said he first learned of the plot through local media reports. “We live here peacefully. I walk on the streets here and there is no fear,” he told the outlet, emphasizing his sense of safety despite the attempted attack.
The report detailed that the plot included plans to attack an education center and reflects Iran’s growing reliance on criminal proxies to carry out attacks, allowing Tehran to maintain deniability. The surge in such operations intensified after the Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza, according to security officials quoted in the report.
Aslanov, previously involved in drug trafficking, met with Quds Force operatives in Iran, where the plot was arranged with the help of Mohammad Golkari, an Iranian national with criminal ties. Upon returning to Baku, he recruited Ismayilov to surveil Segal, according to the report.
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Azerbaijani authorities stated the pair sent Segal’s location details to a foreign intelligence agency via a mobile app but the target’s identity was not disclosed until the report revealed it.
This is not the first time Iran has been accused of targeting Azerbaijan. In 2023, Azerbaijani lawmaker Fazil Mustafa survived an assassination attempt, which investigators linked to Iran.
Mustafa accused Tehran of orchestrating the attack, saying, “Their masters are high-ranking clerics in the Iranian state,” according to the outlet, which cited his interview with a local outlet Gununsesi.info. Five suspects were later convicted of treason and sentenced to prison terms, including life imprisonment.
Tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan have long simmered over Tehran’s support for Armenia, Azerbaijan’s regional rival and disputes over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region Azerbaijan reclaimed in 2023.
The Quds Force’s alleged role in the plot aligns with global incidents documented in the Post report, including a 2023 synagogue attack in Germany, a foiled Peruvian plot targeting an Israeli national and the recent U.S. conviction of two men for conspiring to kill Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Azerbaijani and Iranian officials did not respond to requests for comment on the reports, as noted by the outlet.