FBI testimony implicates Iran in US teacher's murder in Iraq

Shafaq News/ Nearly three years after American teacher Stephen Troell was killed in Baghdad, FBI testimony and additional evidence suggested that the Cave Companions (Ashab al-Kahf- now known as Kataib Sarkhat al-Quds) affiliated with Iran's Quds Force, was involved in the incident.

Michael Knights, an analyst at the Washington Institute, detailed, on Wednesday, that a 28-page testimony examined the formation of a cell responsible for the killing. This cell, reportedly assembled by the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, consisted of nine individuals drawn from various Iranian-backed Iraqi armed groups, including Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Kata'ib Hezbollah.

The cell also reportedly included a Quds Force officer, Mohammad Reza Nouri, who holds both Syrian and Iranian citizenship and possesses extensive operational experience in Syria, along with an intelligence team from the Revolutionary Guard.

According to the testimony, the cell's primary objective was to kidnap at least three individuals and assassinate seven others—including American citizens—as retaliation for the killing of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. The planned kidnappings were intended to serve as leverage against the United States.

Encrypted messages intercepted by the FBI from the Iranian officer's phone revealed his frustration over the limited number of available recruits, noting, "The number of young men is limited, and these special tasks require very specific individuals."

Knights added that the Revolutionary Guard is actively recruiting new Iraqi fighters unknown to local and Western intelligence agencies, aiming to establish cells directly loyal to the IRGC rather than relying on existing Iraqi factions.

Knights noted that the assassination operation was initially linked to Ashab al-Kahf after the group claimed responsibility for the attack as retaliation for the deaths of Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, though it later denied responsibility for the initial statement.

In August 2023, an Iraqi court sentenced an Iranian and four Iraqis to life imprisonment for the murder of Stephen Troell, who was shot on November 7, 2022, while driving with his family near a market in al-Karrada, central Baghdad. Troell, who had lived in Baghdad for at least two years with his wife and children, taught English and was known for openly sharing his passionate Christian faith on social media.