A U.S. court has accused Mohammad Reza Nouri, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), of murder and terrorist activities in connection with the killing of an American citizen in Iraq in 2022.
Federal prosecutors in New York announced on Friday, December 20, that these charges against the 36-year-old Nouri could lead to life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
This IRGC member was arrested in March 2023, along with four militia members backed by the Iranian regime in Iraq, on charges of murdering an American teacher named Stephen Troell.
Mr. Troell, 45 years old and originally from Tennessee in the southern United States, was living in Iraq with his wife and children. He was shot and killed in his personal vehicle in the Karrada district of Baghdad two years ago in the fall.
Mohammad Reza Nouri, known by his alias “Abu Abbas,” and referred to in Iranian media as a “Defender of the Shrine,” was detained in Iraq for 16 months before being sentenced to life imprisonment this past August.
According to the Acting U.S. Attorney General, Nouri is accused of orchestrating the assassination of this American citizen.
He allegedly gathered information on Mr. Troell’s movements for the attackers and provided them with weapons and a safe location.
U.S. judicial officials claimed in court that on the day of the murder, this IRGC member celebrated the act with one of his accomplices and returned to Iran from Iraq that same night.
The Acting U.S. Attorney stated that the Iranian regime actively targets American citizens around the world to suppress dissent and avenge the killing of Qassem Soleimani.
Qassem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.
Ismail Baqaei, spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, previously denied the accusations against Mohammad Reza Nouri, calling them a “conspiracy by groups linked to Israel.”
He told the official Iranian regime’s news agency IRNA that these allegations aim to further complicate Iran-U.S. relations.
Iran has previously denied similar accusations, dismissing them as baseless.
