Mohammad Reza Nouri, a Captain in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Allegedly Orchestrated the November 7, 2022, Murder of Stephen Troell, a U.S. Citizen Living in Iraq, in Retaliation for the January 2020 Death of Qasem Soleimani
Edward Y. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Merrick B. Garland, the Attorney General of the United States; Christopher A. Wray, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”); and David Sundberg, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, announced the unsealing of murder and terrorism charges against MOHAMMAD REZA NOURI, a/k/a “Muhammad Rida Husayn ‘Ali Asghar Nuri,” a/k/a “Abu Abbas,” an Iranian national and officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (“IRGC”), in connection with NOURI’s alleged role in orchestrating the November 7, 2022 murder of American Stephen Troell in Baghdad, Iraq. The charges are contained in a Complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court. NOURI was arrested in Iraq in March 2023.
Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Y. Kim said: “As alleged, Mohammad Reza Nouri, a Captain in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, orchestrated the murder of American Steven Troell in Iraq. Nouri is alleged to have gathered intelligence on Troell’s daily routine and whereabouts, procured weapons and vehicles, and provided safe harbor to the operatives who carried out the sinister plot to brutally attack Troell in front of his wife. As alleged, the Iranian regime is actively targeting U.S. citizens, such as Troell, living in countries around the world for kidnapping and execution both to repress and silence dissidents critical of the regime and to take vengeance for the death of Qasem Soleimani. This Office will not stand by when an American is attacked and murdered in cold blood, and we will continue working with our law enforcement partners to bring Nouri to justice.”
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said: “The Department of Justice will not tolerate terrorists and authoritarian regimes targeting and murdering Americans anywhere in the world. We allege that Mohammad Reza Nouri, an officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, orchestrated the murder of Stephen Troell, an American citizen living in Iraq, carrying out the Iranian Regime’s efforts to take vengeance for the death of Qasim Soleimani. Stephen should still be alive, and the Justice Department will work relentlessly to ensure accountability for his murder.”
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said: “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps remains determined to target U.S. citizens, and orchestrated a cold-blooded plot to brutally murder Stephen Troell, a Tennessee native working at an English language institute in Iraq. According to the allegations, Mohammad Reza Nouri, an IRGC captain, played a key role in planning the attack in which Troell was ambushed as he drove home from work with his wife. This announcement makes clear that the FBI and our partners will not tolerate the IRGC’s ruthless attacks on Americans, here in the U.S. or overseas, and will hold accountable any who seek to harm our citizens.”
FBI Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg said: “As alleged in the complaint, Nouri facilitated Troell's murder. He allegedly gathered information and coordinated with a co-conspirator to procure supplies that operatives relied on during their attack on Troell. The FBI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring IRGC operatives, including Nouri's co-conspirator, to justice for harming Americans.”
According to the allegations contained in the Complaint charging the defendant:[1]
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (“Iran”) is actively targeting nationals of the United States and its allies living in countries around the world for kidnapping and/or execution both to repress and silence dissidents critical of the Iranian regime and to take vengeance for the January 2020 death of then-Commander of the IRGC-Qods Force (“IRGC-QF”), Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad. The IRGC is an Iranian military and counterintelligence agency under the authority of Iran’s Supreme Leader, comprised of components including an external operations force, the IRGC-QF, and has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. Secretary of State since April 15, 2019. The IRGC has publicly stated its desire to avenge the death of Soleimani, and, among its activities, the IRGC plots and conducts attack operations outside Iran targeting U.S. citizens residing in the United States and abroad. In November 2022, the Iranian regime struck in Iraq: a group of operatives working on behalf of the IRGC brutally murdered Stephen Troell, a 45-year-old American living in Baghdad, where he worked at an English language institute, as Troell was driving home with his wife after work.
NOURI is an IRGC Captain who works for the IRGC in Iraq and is involved in the IRGC’s external attack plotting against U.S. citizens and others. NOURI played a key role in the IRGC’s targeting and ultimate murder of Troell, whom NOURI appears to have believed was working as an American or Israeli intelligence officer. NOURI, on behalf of the IRGC, collected critical, highly personal information about Troell to facilitate stalking, attacking, and ultimately killing Troell. NOURI, with the assistance of co-conspirators, developed a source with access to details of Troell’s life and daily routine. With this information, NOURI created intelligence documents for his IRGC associates and a group of operatives recruited to execute the attack, which included Troell’s date of birth, coordinates of his residence, occupation, work schedule, telephone number, wife’s name, and children’s names, among other information. In the weeks leading up to the murder, NOURI coordinated with one of his co-conspirators (“CC-1”) in the plot targeting Troell to procure some of the means for attacking Troell, including firearms as well as a vehicle for use in the lethal attack on Troell. On the evening of November 7, 2022, the group of recruited operatives carried out the attack. Troell was driving home from work with his wife when heavily armed gunmen in two cars forced the Troells to stop shortly before they reached their residence, blocked any possible escape route, approached Troell on the driver’s side, and, using an assault weapon, shot and killed Troell as his wife witnessed the attack in the passenger seat.
On the day of the murder, NOURI coordinated with CC-1 shortly before and immediately after the attack. NOURI and CC-1 spoke repeatedly in the hours leading up to the attack. Less than a half hour after the attack, NOURI sent CC-1 encrypted messages inquiring about the wellbeing of the operatives tasked with carrying out the hit on Troell, asking, “The guys are fine?” and “They are doing well?” to which CC-1 responded, “One is injured.” As the night went on, CC-1 continued to update NOURI, noting that “two so far” of the operatives on the hit squad — whom NOURI referred to as “our guys” — had gathered safely since the murder, that “the rest are on the way,” and that the injury sustained by one of their confederates was “slight.” In the course of these encrypted messages, NOURI and CC-1 celebrated the events of the day and their success. That night, after the murder, NOURI left Iraq for Iran. Shortly before departing Baghdad, NOURI visited a religious site associated with mourning for Soleimani’s death.
Following the murder, approximately nine of the operatives on the hit squad also left Iraq and entered Iran, where they joined NOURI. In Iran, NOURI arranged housing for the operatives, providing them safe harbor in the aftermath of the murder. NOURI and another IRGC official addressed the operatives during their stay in Iran, offered their blessings to the hit squad, and told them that Troell was purportedly a spy on behalf of America and Israel, that Troell threatened Islam by attracting Iraqi youths to the Jewish religion and spreading it in Iraq, and that Troell therefore deserved to be murdered.
In March 2023, Iraqi authorities arrested NOURI, and he was subsequently convicted by an Iraqi court for his role in Troell’s murder. NOURI remains in custody in Iraq.
NOURI, 36, of Iran, has been charged with: (i) conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; (ii) providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; (iii) conspiring to provide material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; (iv) providing material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; (v) conspiring to take hostages, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; (vi) conspiring to murder U.S. nationals outside the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; (vii) murdering a U.S. national outside the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of death or life in prison; and (viii) causing death through the use of a firearm, which carries a maximum penalty of death or life in prison.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant would be imposed by a judge.
Mr. Kim praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI Washington Field Office, Counterterrorism Division. Mr. Kim also thanked Iraqi authorities for providing invaluable support, as well as the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section; the Department’s Office of International Affairs; the Department’s Office of the Justice Attaché in Iraq; the FBI Legal Attaché office in Iraq; and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia for their assistance.
This case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacob H. Gutwillig, Matthew J.C. Hellman, and Kyle A. Wirshba are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorneys Joshua Champagne and Timothy J. Reardon III of the Counterterrorism Section.
The charges in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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