The operation, coordinated by the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is part of what officials described as Tehran’s growing use of criminal proxies for targeted killings abroad.
“The [Iranian] officer handed Aslanov a photo of a prominent Jewish figure in Azerbaijan and detailed instructions on how to kill him,” one official said. “Aslanov agreed to kill Rabbi Shneor Segal for a price tag of $200,000.”
According to the Western and Middle Eastern security officials, the plot—thwarted by Azerbaijan’s State Security Service in early January—also included plans to target an educational center.
Aslanov and a local accomplice were arrested and charged with conspiracy to carry out a terrorist act, as stated by the State Security Service and reported in local media at the time.
The officials said the operation was arranged by Mohammad Golkari, an Iranian national with longstanding ties to organized crime, who helped coordinate Aslanov’s meeting with Quds Force operatives in Iran. After receiving instructions and the target's photo, Aslanov returned to Baku and recruited Azerbaijani citizen Jeyhun Ismayilov to assist with surveillance.
It is not the first such Iranian attack to be foiled in Azerbaijan. In 2023, then Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Iran was responsible for a foiled plot to attack the Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan.
“Tehran stands behind the attempt ... Iranian terror is a global threat, as we saw in the past few days in Azerbaijan in an attempted attack against the Israeli Embassy in Baku, as well as in recent months in Cyprus and Greece in attempted attacks against Israelis and Jews,” he said at the time, saying Iran had funded and issued instructions to the terror cell that attempted the attack.
In the year before the war began in October 2023, Israel's chief of Mossad, David Barnea, said 27 Iran-backed plots had been foiled in Europe, Africa, the Far East and South America.
But Iran-backed plots to kill Jews and Israelis abroad have ramped up since the Gaza war, dozens foiled globally, in addition to plots inside the Jewish state.
Last week, ahead of the passover holiday next week, Israel's National Security Council warned the Israeli public to remain vigilant when traveling abroad amid concerns that Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and global Jihadist groups will continue to actively advance attacks against Jews and Israelis worldwide.
"With the collapse of the cease-fire and resumed fighting in Gaza, we are expecting to see an increase in attempted attacks against Israeli/Jewish targets abroad carried out by local initiatives or lone-wolf attackers," the Council said in a statement.
It named Iran as "the main instigator of global terrorism against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, both directly and through its proxies."
Iran relies on criminal networks to carry out extraterritorial operations. Other plots linked to Iranian agents have been reported in Germany, Peru, and the United States, where two men were convicted last month of accepting payment to kill Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad.
