Yahoo TV

STORY: "We will not tolerate attempts by a foreign power to threaten, silence or harm Americans."

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday said the Justice Department foiled a Tehran-backed plot to assassinate a Brooklyn-based Iranian-American journalist and activist who criticized Tehran.

“The victim publicized the Iranian government's human rights abuses, discrimination, discriminatory treatment of women, suppression of democratic participation and expression, and use of arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and execution.”

Garland said three men had been indicted as part of the plot.

While the attorney general did not name the alleged target… he said one of the men indicted was arrested last year for having a rifle outside the Brooklyn home of journalist Masih Alinejad, a longtime critic of the Iranian government.

Reuters confirmed she was previously the target of a failed Tehran-backed kidnapping plot. And Garland said the victim of the assassination plot and the attempted kidnapping were the same person.

"In July of last year, one of the defendants, Khalid Mehdiyev, was found with an assault rifle, two ammunition magazines, and approximately 66 rounds of ammunition Not far from the victim's home in Brooklyn, New York."

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“We allege that Mehdiyev and his co-conspirators, Polad Omarov and Rafat Amirov are members of an Eastern European criminal organization with ties to Iran.”

The three men were charged with murder-for-hire and money laundering.

Mehdiyev pleaded not guilty to one count of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He is in custody in Brooklyn pending trial.

Garland said the other two suspects were arrested in other countries. One was now in U.S. custody, and the other was awaiting extradition.

Iran did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told reporters the U.S. remains on high alert to the threats coming from Iran:

“But looking at the threat from Iran more broadly, we've seen the Iranian regime become more aggressive and more brazen across vectors.”

Wray and Garland said they would work tirelessly to safeguard Americans against threats from abroad.