(Reuters) – U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke to Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad on Wednesday, expressing concern for her safety following the arrest of a man with a rifle outside his New York home. last week, an NSC spokesman said in a statement.
The man, Khalid Mehdiyev, spent two days last week outside Alinejad’s home and at one point tried to open the door, an FBI agent wrote in a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan last week. Police took him into custody after he ran a stop sign and found the gun in the back seat of the car, according to the complaint.
Alinejad, who saw the incident as an attempt on his life by Tehran, said: “What the Iranian regime did, first trying to kidnap me and now sending someone here trying to kill me, is a pattern. It is a continuation of their way of oppressing dissidents inside and outside of Iran.
On Wednesday, Sullivan said that US President Joe Biden will continue to receive updates on his situation, adding that the administration will continue to protect its citizens and dissidents from threats from the Persian Gulf nation.
“… the US government will use all tools at its disposal to disrupt and deter threats from Iran, including those that target US citizens and dissidents living in the United States,” the NSC statement said. .
Last year, Alinejad was said to be the target of a Tehran-backed kidnapping plot. She has promoted videos of women violating the Iranian law on head coverings to her millions of followers on social media.
(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)