This article is part of our continuing coverage of the investigation into the activities of Haider Sher Ali and Arian Taherzadeh in Washington, D.C. We will update our coverage as additional details are acquired.

A judge in Washington D.C. yesterday ordered the release of Ali and Taherzadeh – saying prosecutors failed to prove a foreign connection. Defense attorneys argued that the government was “Making a mountain out of a molehill, and it is time for it to end.”

The two men may still face charges but in the interim, they will be free to go about their business. Whether they will remain in the country or simply vanish, of course, remains to be seen.

It has now been learned that the government was forced to rush the arrest of the two before it had completed gathering evidence because the two were apparently tipped off to the investigation into their activities via an email from a member of the Secret Service. The government characterizes this as “inadvertent.” There has been no explanation of why a Secret Service agent would be emailing either of the two individuals or how such an email could possibly reveal “inadvertently” that the two were under investigation.

Viewer Licious @ViewerLicious

@SecretService @DHSgov "An investigator with the [USSS] sent an email to Arian Taherzadeh, one of the defendants,...That email, which Taherzadeh, 40, responded to, was the message that inadvertently caused the defendant...to suspect an investigation..." @DHSOIG

dailymail.co.uk‘Fake’ agents who ‘infiltrated Secret Service’ will be RELEASEDA DC judge is denying federal prosecutors motion to detain the two men impersonating federal agents because he says he isn’t convinced that there are links to Pakistan intelligence

Meanwhile, significant concerns remain about a possible Iranian nexus to this matter. Taherzadeh and Ali allegedly began posing as law enforcement agents in February 2020, the month after a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and nine others.

The Iranians have made no secret of their intent to get revenge for the killing of Soleimani. They have also made clear that they intend to deliver some truly catastrophic response.

Speaking earlier this year in Mashhad, Iran at a ceremony marking the second anniversary of the killing of General Soleimani, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Qods Force Commander Brigadier General Esmaeil Qaani reiterated that the Islamic Republic will take revenge for General Soleimani’s assassination in its own way.

“We will prepare the ground for the hard revenge against the U.S. from within their homes, as we do not need to be present as supervisors everywhere, wherever is necessary we take revenge against Americans by the help of people on their side and within their own homes without our presence.”
Tasnimnews.com

Speaking earlier today Mohammed Pakpour a senior general in the IRGC said "The blood of Haj Qassem Soleimani is very expensive. Killing all of America's leaders isn't enough to avenge him, so we have to avenge him another way.”

IranTrue @iran_true

Mohammad Pakpour emphasized killing US officials is not enough and “we should avenge Qassem Soleimani’s blood in other ways!” IRGC Ground Forces Commander-in-Chief also said Qassem Soleimani’s soldiers are ready to face any and all threats towards the Islamic Republic. #IranTruth

We note also that Ali has multiple stamps in his passport indicating travel to Mashhad, Iran. Mashhad is the location of an Iranian Qods Force training facility at which Pakistani recruits are trained for operations abroad on behalf of Tehran. The unit in question is called the Zainabiyoun Brigade.

Members of the Brigade are recruited via a network of Islamic institutions worldwide. One key organization in this network is the AhlulBayt World Assembly, which operates out of Tehran under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s direct supervision and uses its funds to “educate” young Shiite minds. Hezbollah is part of this organization as well.

Pakistani recruits receive special weapons training in Mashhad. That training includes a forty-five-day sniper course.

Ali is apparently Pakistani. According to the available evidence, it appears a spotting scope commonly used by sniper teams was seized by the police from Ali’s apartment.

What happens next remains unclear. What is evident is that this case has been horribly bungled by the government. In the current climate, that leaves us to ponder this question. Is what we are seeing simply staggering incompetence or is something worse happening? Are we deliberately letting assassins walk?

Thank you for reading AND Magazine. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

AND Magazine

Staggering Incompetence Or Something Worse …