Iranian-American Businessman Coordinated With UAE Monarch to Target Iran Critics, Lawsuit Alleges
Lawsuit suggests Wall Street Journal journalist also caught up in smear operation
An Iranian-American businessman tied to a network of pro-Tehran advocates coordinated with a Middle Eastern monarch to target prominent Americans in an international hacking-and-disinformation campaign, according to court documents filed in the United Kingdom in September.
Amir Handjani, an oil executive and attorney who sits on the board of directors of Washington's Atlantic Council think tank, has worked as a registered foreign agent for Ras al Khaimah, or RAK, one of the seven monarchical states that make up the United Arab Emirates. The RAK has deep financial and diplomatic ties to Tehran. According to a $16.7 million complaint filed in September in a London court, RAK's ruler, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al Qasimi, ordered Handjani to execute a smear operation which appeared to be aimed in part at perceived critics of Iran, including former Wall Street Journal reporter Jay Solomon.
In the complaint, American aviation magnate Farhad Azima says that RAK and its associates were behind a hack of his email and devices as part of an effort to blackmail him in 2016.
Experts on Iran and its espionage operations said the smear campaign appeared to be another example of Iran using its proxies and allies to target its perceived critics, even inside the United States.
David Asher, a former State Department official and expert in money laundering schemes, told the Washington Free Beacon that the alleged hacking attack on Azima and Solomon reflects "a classic Iranian information warfare exercise."
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