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Iran allegedly hired a Canadian Hells Angels gang member to kill an Iranian defector living in Maryland, according to a newly unsealed indictment. The charges, released by the US Department of Justice, detail how two Canadians – Damion Ryan (a full-patch member of Hells Angels) and Adam Pearson (who was illegally living in Minnesota) – allegedly plotted to assassinate an unnamed male Iranian defector and a woman in late 2020/early 2021. Their agreed fee: $350,000. According to the indictment, Pearson messaged Ryan that he would tell his contacts to “erase his [the victim's] head from his torso”. The man alleged to be behind the plot is Naji Sharifi Zindashti, aka “Big Guy” – an Iranian drug trafficker who the US and UK governments say operates a global network targeting dissidents on behalf of Iran. In conjunction with the indictment being unsealed, the UK and US announced joint sanctions against Zindashti and his network. The UK separately announced sanctions against members of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Unit 840 who reportedly plotted to kill journalists working for the UK-based network Iran International. “The UK and US have sent a clear message -– we will not tolerate this threat,” said David Cameron, Britain’s foreign secretary. Last year, Tortoise reported that counter-terrorism police officers had warned Iran International journalists of threats to their lives from the Iranian government, which used organised crime groups including the Zindashti cartel and Hells Angels, as its hitmen.