Assassin hired by Iran originally told to ‘slit the throat’ of Israeli businessman in Georgia

Amir Khan had made a deal to release imprisoned friends in Iran in exchange for the murder.

By World Israel News Staff

Pakistani terrorist Amir Khan, who was hired by Iran in a failed attempt to kill an Israeli businessman in Georgia earlier this month, was instructed to do so by slitting his throat.

According to the testimony given after Khan was arrested by Georgian authorities, he refused to comply with the request and demanded a gun instead, Israel’s Walla News reported citing Georgian media.

“I had two chances to do it…but I told him that I could not kill a person with a knife, and he got me a gun,” the would-be assassin said of his handler, a 45-year-old man known only as Sufian.

Sufian recruited Khan into the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, which is in charge of terrorist operations against Israeli and Western targets overseas, shortly after entering Georgia.

Georgian State Security Service announced Tuesday afternoon that it had uncovered an Iranian terror cell operating in the country that was plotting to assassinate an Israeli national.

A woman was also arrested along with Khan, as well as two Iranian translators.

“Before arriving in Georgia, the Pakistani citizen was given the necessary instruction and was given information about the object of the murder,” State Security Service said, referring to Khan.

“Later, the mentioned person arrived in Georgia through a third country, where he was met with a rented apartment and given the means of conspiracy connection.”

Khan shadowed the Israeli man targeted by the cell, while others tied to the group provided him with firearms and ammunition, which was stored in several hidden caches. Khan later admitted that he had flown from Dubai and had easily entered Georgian soil.

Police confiscated weapons obtained by the terror cell, along with phones and other equipment.

Georgian authorities say they are still working to identify and locate other suspects associated with the cell.

Over the course of the interrogation, Khan revealed that he was very familiar with the security protocol surrounding his target Itzik Moshe, the head of the “Beit Israel” advocacy group.

Khan had made a deal to release imprisoned friends in Iran in exchange for the murder. He was told he had until November 7 to carry out the assassination.

Moshe told Walla News that he first learned about the plot against his life from Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Moshe said he believed the attack was part of a larger plot to undermine an antisemitism conference he was in charge of organizing. “The fact is that he set the date November 7 to finish the task by, which was the day the conference opened,” Moshe told Walla.

In July, an Iranian terror cell operating out of Turkey was broken up after local police foiled a plot to kidnap and murder Israelis.

Israel’s National Security Council has warned of Iran’s efforts to carry out a retaliatory attack against Israeli targets following the assassination of the deputy commander of an elite unit in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, which Iran blamed on Israel. Khodaei was said to have been planning attacks against Israelis.

In addition to Khodaei, three other Iranian officials died under mysterious circumstances in Iran within a single month.

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