The IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force) members responsible for the failed assassination attempt of Israeli businessman Itzik Moshe in Georgia back in November were revealed by Iran International on Monday.
Hossein Rehban, Mohammad Reza Arablo, Mohsen Rafiei Miandashti, Farhad Fashai and Ali Faizipour were revealed as the main members of the assassination team of the Quds Force Unit 400 of the IRGC – the unit responsible for the failed terrorist plot against the head of the Israel-Georgia Joint Chamber of Commerce.
Georgia’s State Security Service announced in November that the assassination, which they stopped earlier that same month, involved a team of assassins from Pakistan who have ties to al-Qaeda and arrived in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi to gather intelligence on the target.
The IRGC’s Quds Force Unit 400 works with international terror groups to fund and plot terror attacks across the world. The hiring of foreign nationals for the assassination attempt is evidence of the Iranian regime’s pattern of using international terrorist fighters to try to cover its tracks.
The IRGC’s overseas assassination attempts
Iran’s IRGC has implemented overseas assassinations into their military strategy for years – particularly against Israeli nationals. There were two foiled assassination plots in Turkey in 2022 against Israeli citizens, while Israeli billionaire Teddy Saggi was tipped off by the Israeli authorities – likely the Mossad – that Iranian assassins were after him in Cyprus in 2021.
Iran has planned terrorist attacks in Georgia in the past, including in 2021-2022, and this is not the first time Moshe was targeted, Georgia’s security service added.
“The connection between Iran and al-Qaeda is not new,” Georgia’s security service said at the time of the incident. “This attempted terrorist attack once again shows the close and years-long connection between [them] – specifically the use Tehran makes of the terrorist organization, including hosting its members on Iranian soil – to advance attacks on innocent civilians while trying to hide its direct involvement.”
Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.