Two Iranians Charged With Spying On American Jewish Targets

Rohr Chabad Center, Chicago Image by Google Maps
Two Iranians who collected information on Israeli and Jewish targets in the United States were charged Monday with spying for Tehran, The Times of Israel reported.
Ahmadreza Mohammadi-Doostdar, 38, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, and Majid Ghorbani, 59, an Iranian citizen and resident of California, were arrested Aug. 9.
According to the indictment released by the Justice Department, Mohammadi-Doostdar traveled to the U.S. from Iran around July 2017, with the aim of gathering material on alleged opponents of the Iranian regime. This included Israelis and American Jews, as well as those linked to The People’s Mujahedeen (MEK), an Iranian opposition organization that the United States considered a terror group until 2012.
Mohammadi-Doostdar is accused of setting up surveillance and taking photos at several Jewish centers in Chicago, including the Hillel Center and the Rohr Chabad House, on or around July 21, 2017, according to the indictment.
Mohammadi-Doostdar met Ghorbani a trip to California, the indictment reads. Two months later, Ghorbani flew to New York for one day to attend a MEK rally, where he took photos. When Mohammadi-Doostdar returned to California, Ghorbani mentioned trying to “penetrate” the group, while Mohammadi-Doostdar spoke of being directed to collect the information, according to FBI recordings.
This March and April, Ghorbani went to Iran to brief government officials on MEK and received a list of “taskings,” according to the indictment. In May, he attended the MEK-supported Iran Freedom Convention for Human Rights in Washington and took more photos.
Both men were charged with acting as unregistered agents of the Iranian government and violating sanctions, The Times of Israel reported.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Chicago mayor donned keffiyeh for Arab Heritage Month event, sparking outcry from Jewish groups
-
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
-
Fast Forward Latvia again closes case against ‘Butcher of Riga,’ tied to mass murder of Jews
-
Fast Forward Protesters clash in Crown Heights as Ben-Gvir visits Chabad headquarters
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.