Report: Iranian Plot to Murder Azerbaijani Rabbi B’H Foiled

Iran attempted, and b’chasdei Hashem failed, to carry out an assassination against an Azerbaijani rabbi by enlisting a Georgian drug trafficker, according to a Washington Post report published Saturday.

The Post reported that the plot began last fall when Iran’s Quds Force, the foreign operations wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, approached Agil Aslanov — a well-known drug kingpin from Georgia — and recruited him to murder Rabbi Shneor Segal, as well as to target a local education center.

The Quds Force offered Aslanov $200,000 for the horrific assignment.

According to the report, Aslanov enlisted a local Azerbaijani accomplice and began surveillance of Rabbi Segal.

Azerbaijan’s security services uncovered the plan, arresting both Aslanov and the local collaborator in January, the report said, citing unnamed officials from Middle Eastern and Western intelligence sources.

A statement from Azerbaijan’s state security service confirmed that Aslanov “worked to collect information about a member of a religious community, and sent the location of his residence and workplace to a representative of a foreign special service agency via the appropriate mobile phone application.”

Although the statement did not specifically identify Rabbi Segal as the target, local media widely reported his name.

In an interview with The Post, the Rabbi said he only became aware of the plot through media coverage. He emphasized that he continues to feel secure in Azerbaijan.

“We live here peacefully. I walk on the streets here, and there is no fear,” he said.

This is not the first incident involving a rabbi in a Muslim country being targeted in recent months. Rabbi Zvi Kogan Hy”d, a Chabad emissary based in the United Arab Emirates, was kidnapped and murdered late last year in what was believed to be a plot to transport him to Oman and hold him hostage.

After the plan failed, the Rabbi was murdered.

Authorities in the UAE have arrested three Uzbek nationals in connection with the crime — Olimpi Toirovich, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, and Azizbek Kamlovich. All three were apprehended in Turkey and were recently sentenced to death for their involvement in the abduction and killing.

While some reports have speculated about Iranian involvement in Rabbi Kogan’s case, Kan reported that Israeli officials do not believe the murder was necessarily ordered by Tehran.

Iran has a long history of targeting Israeli and Jewish individuals worldwide as part of its operations against Israel.

In January, Israel’s National Security Council revealed that Iranian proxies attempted to lure an Israeli businessman to Dubai under the guise of a job interview.

More recently, Israeli authorities have thwarted multiple plots involving Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis online for espionage or attacks on Israeli targets.

Since September 2024, several arrests have been made in cases where individuals or cells were accused of spying or planning attacks on behalf of Iran. Some were tricked into participating via online communication, while others allegedly acted knowingly for financial gain.