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She was the target of an Iranian assassination plot. She now lives in its shadow
Iranian rights activist Masih Alinejad speaks during a press conference in March in association with the World Liberty Congress to urge action on political prisoners around the world, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
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Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Masih Alinejad is lucky to be alive.
In late July 2022, a hitman was standing on the front porch of her home in Brooklyn, N.Y. The man, bearded and wearing a black T-shirt and baggy black shorts, had allegedly been hired as part of a plot hatched in Iran to assassinate Alinejad, a dissident and outspoken critic of the Iranian regime.
The only thing separating him from Alinejad was her front door.
Alinejad was home at the time, on a Zoom call with the Russian chess champion and political activist Gary Kasparov and the Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.
“I was in a very deep conversation. It was very tense, and we were talking about initiating a new organization, so that’s why I didn’t want to leave the meeting,” Alinejad said. “So when I heard someone knocking at the door, I was like, OK, after the meeting, so I didn’t open the door.”
That Zoom call likely saved her life.
When she didn’t answer the door, the suspect returned to his car and drove off, running a stop sign near her house. The police pulled him over and found an AK-47-style rifle in the back seat of his car. He was arrested, and from there the FBI unraveled what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire scheme directed from Iran to assassinate Alinejad.
“I actually asked the FBI what happened that I’m alive now,” Alinejad told NPR. “They said ‘You were lucky.’ “
She was lucky, in part, because the FBI was aware Iran was targeting her, but the bureau didn’t know that the man on her porch was part of the alleged assassination plot or that he was armed with a gun, she said.
The murder-for-hire scheme to kill Alinejad is one of at least four state-sponsored plots that the Justice Department says it has foiled in the past several years. It is part of a growing trend in which foreign governments look to silence critics overseas.
The threats against her have turned her life upside down
Alinejad was recalling her ordeal over dinner in downtown Washington, D.C., in May. She had just arrived from New York for a brief visit following the death of Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, in a helicopter crash.
Alinejad, who was born in Iran and now lives in exile in the U.S., is a journalist, activist and outspoken critic of Iran’s government. For the past decade, she has waged a campaign against the country’s compulsory headscarf, or hijab, for women.
She has gained a massive audience on social media — some 10 million followers across platforms. Her activism has angered Iran’s leaders and put her in the regime’s crosshairs.
The U.S. Justice Department said in 2021 that it had foiled an Iranian plot to kidnap Alinejad in New York City, whisk her by speedboat to Venezuela and then transport her to Iran, where she most likely would have faced trial.
Two years later, the department announced that it had foiled another plot directed from Iran, but this time to assassinate Alinejad. A federal indictment charged four alleged members of an Eastern European criminal organization with ties to Iran of being tasked with killing her. It was one of those four men, Khalid Mehdiyev, who was on her front porch and later arrested.
Mehdiyev and two of his codefendants are in U.S. custody and have pleaded not guilty. A trial is scheduled for next year.
Since the kidnapping scheme was first exposed, Alinejad and her family have moved from one FBI safehouse to another — almost 20 over the past four years, she said. Sometimes they have advance warning; sometimes they only have an hour or so to pack their bags.
It is a temporary, disorienting way to live.
“Sometimes, during the night, I wake up and I don’t know where I am,” she said. “It’s like I wake up and I don’t know, this is my house? This is a hotel? It’s a safehouse? So it’s not easy.”
She and her husband, Kambiz Foroohar, had to sell their Brooklyn house after the foiled assassination plot. It was too well known and no longer safe, the authorities told them.
The couple is now looking to buy a place in New York City, but it’s hard to get past a co-op board, Alinejad said, when a quick Google search reveals that the Iranian government is trying to kill you.
“Who is going to sell a co-op to a person being followed by killers?” she said. “So we are getting our reference letters from neighbors, from colleagues to actually convince the members of the board, members in the co-op that please, accept us, we are good people, ignore the killers.”
The threat against her life did not end with the foiled plots. American officials have told her that Iran is still actively trying to kill her, she said.
The FBI declined to comment for this story. Iran’s U.N. mission did not respond to a request for comment.
The threat against Alinejad doesn’t just affect her. It affects her friends. It affects her family, including her husband.
Like Alinejad, Foroohar said that the constant moving from safehouse to safehouse has been one of the toughest challenges.
It has meant, at times, that he’s been separated from his children, who are Alinejad’s stepchildren. It feels like they are living in an Airbnb all the time.
The couple doesn’t hang artwork on the walls or put out family photos, he says, because they never know how long they’ll be in one place.
“Every location that we are in is sterile for us,” Foroohar said over coffee at a New York café. “And I want that messy, chaotic feel of a home where albums are everywhere, pictures are everywhere, books are everywhere, you know? It’s just, like, a mess that is your mess and it’s your home.”
Foroohar said that when the FBI first showed them photos that they were under surveillance by Iranian operatives, he and Alinejad were in shock. It felt like they themselves were characters in a movie, he said.
He knew Iran’s leaders didn’t like Alinejad’s activism, but Foroohar said he never thought they’d try to kill her.
“That’s a very radical step to take,” he said.
Still, the couple has been able to find humor in their predicament.
“You can’t really talk about it on a day-to-day basis with people because it doesn’t happen to everyone,” he said. “You can talk about the Knicks game. You can talk about the Yankees, or you can talk about the weather. But, ‘Oh yeah, by the way, there’s a guy with a machine gun outside my house’ — that’s a conversation killer.”
Foroohar knows better than anyone how the threat on Alinejad’s life has taken a toll on her. He tells a story to illustrate how.
He and Alinejad were out together in New York one day, he said, when a man threw liquid into her face.
“For a brief moment, she thought, ‘Oh my god, this is acid,’” he said. “She thought, ‘My face is going to burn.’ And she rushed into a shop, got some bottled water and was just pouring water over her face.”
It turned out the liquid wasn’t acid. It was coffee. But Alinejad lives with the fear that anywhere she goes, he said, danger may lurk behind every door.
“Sometimes someone walks too closely behind us, she gets nervous,” he said. “Or she gets in the elevator, someone else walks in and she walks out. These have small effects.”
He calls these “moments of nervousness.” Still, most of the time, he said, Alinejad is “ready to fight the good fight.”
How will it end?
Alinejad said she knows her work has taken a toll on her family. It’s forced Foroohar to spend less time with his children. Some friends have distanced themselves from Alinejad out of fear for their own safety.
“I always carry the guilt on my shoulder when I see that my husband doesn’t have a normal life, when I see that he misses his children, he doesn’t have his art, when I see that anywhere I go, he gets almost a heart attack if I don’t answer his phone call,” she said.
Sometimes she asks herself whether it’s worth it — putting herself, her family and friends in potential danger. And the answer she comes back to, she said, is yes.
“I’m not carrying any weapon. I don’t have guns and bullets,” she said. “But the regime, they have guns, bullets, everything, they are scared of me. That gives me power, you know? It gives me hope.”
Alinejad doesn’t know how this all ends, or whether it ever does.
But she says right now, she still has her voice and she is going to keep using it.
new video loaded: What Our Photographer Saw in Minneapolis
By David Guttenfelder, Coleman Lowndes and Nikolay Nikolov
January 12, 2026
Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.
Today’s top stories
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is deploying more federal agents to Minnesota. The move comes as nationwide protests continued yesterday after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis last week. Some elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, are pushing back against DHS actions to bring in more agents and demanding a full investigation into Good’s killing. U.S. representatives have typically been allowed to visit ICE detention facilities unannounced, but Homeland Security now requires elected officials to provide a seven-day notice to enter.
A person in an inflatable frog suit holds a sign during a protest in Los Angeles on Jan.10 against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images
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Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images
- 🎧 Tensions are high in Minneapolis, NPR’s Jason DeRose tells Up First. The community can hear sirens and helicopters throughout the day and night, leaving people on edge. Though there is a lot of fear in the area, people are caring for their neighbors. Several hundred people gathered at a church near where the shooting took place last week and marched a mile loop to offer comfort. Along the route, they sang and held moments of silence at areas where ICE agents recently detained residents. DeRose says he will pay attention to what the additional agents are actually doing on the ground and how community members who oppose ICE’s presence will respond in the coming days.
President Trump says he is not ruling out strikes on Iran despite saying Tehran asked to negotiate with the U.S. Iran has seen significant protests for several weeks in the biggest challenge to the theocratic regime in years. In response, the Iranian government has cracked down hard. Around 500 protesters have been killed, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
- 🎧 The regime’s knowledge of the U.S.’ capability to damage missile facilities and hit political targets may have led to the Iranians’ request for talks with the Trump administration, Nader Habibi, who focuses on Middle East economics, tells NPR’s Jackie Northam. Iran said it would consider U.S. military bases and ships as targets for preemptive strikes if the U.S. looked like it would strike. Currently, Iran’s regime is vulnerable because its 12-day war with Israel last summer resulted in the deaths of many of the government’s senior leadership and weakened its military capabilities
The Trump administration is escalating its pressure campaign on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell confirmed that the Justice Department subpoenaed the central bank last week, seeking information about testimony that Powell gave to the Senate Banking Committee in June 2025.
- 🎧 At that time, lawmakers grilled Powell over the Fed headquarters’ makeover costs, which ballooned from $1.9 billion to $2.5 billion. However, in an unusually combative video yesterday, Powell argued that the DOJ investigation is more than just about project spending. The president has said he wants lower interest rates and has threatened to fire Powell in the past, NPR’s Scott Horsley says. However, the Fed was designed to be insulated from political pressure so that policymakers can do what they think is best for the economy long term.
U.S. figure skating is poised to send what some in the sport are calling its most dominant team in years to the Winter Olympics. Sixteen skaters will represent Team USA across all four disciplines: men’s, women’s, pairs, and ice dance. Meet the world champions, seasoned veterans, and rising stars who secured their spots on the roster.
- 📷 NPR’s Brian Munoz attended the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. He left with a newfound love for the sport. See his photos of the athletes fiercely competing for a spot on the team.
Living better
Living Better is a special series about what it takes to stay healthy in America.
Conversations about women’s health, including topics like breast cancer and menopause, have become more mainstream. But the cultural shift comes with a catch: Information can be oversimplified and sometimes outright wrong. As people focus on their New Year’s health goals, doctors debunk some myths people should be aware of.
- 🩺 Annual mammograms are critical, but you need more to prevent breast cancer. Understand your lifetime risk to see if you need tailored screening.
- 🩺 Strength training doesn’t trump cardio, especially in midlife. Aerobic exercise is still critical.
- 🩺 Women cannot maximize workouts based on their menstrual cycle. No good data shows significant changes in strength, endurance, or recovery across the menstrual cycle phases.
Picture show
Ariana Grande arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Jordan Strauss/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/AP
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Jordan Strauss/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/AP
Ariana Grande, Noah Wyle, Teyana Taylor and George Clooney were just some of the big names in TV and film who walked the red carpet last night before the 83rd annual Golden Globes in Beverly Hills, Calif. Among the stars were Morning Edition‘s own Michel Martin, Steve Inskeep, Leila Fadel and A Martínez. Take a look at all the dazzling looks.
➡️ Didn’t watch the award show? Don’t fret, these are all the winners of the Golden Globes.
3 things to know before you go
A photograph of President Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery’s “American Presidents” exhibit on Sunday.
Rod Lamkey/AP
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Rod Lamkey/AP
- The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., removed mentions of Trump’s two impeachments and information about his presidency from the wall text next to his new portrait.
- The Washington National Opera is leaving the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, its home since 1971, in response to new policies that strain its financial model.
- Bob Weir has died at 78. He was a founding member of the influential rock band the Grateful Dead.
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
A fire damaged the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss. The fire department said arson was the cause.
Hannah Orlansky/Beth Israel Congregation
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Hannah Orlansky/Beth Israel Congregation
Authorities have charged one person with arson in a fire that badly damaged Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., early Saturday morning. The Jackson Fire Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, and the FBI are investigating.
Zach Shemper, Beth Israel Congregation president, said he’s stunned.
“Crazy things happen all over the world and nothing really hits home until it actually hits directly home,” he told Mississippi Public Broadcasting. “When it hits home, it’s just hard. Honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my own head around it.”
Shemper also released a statement saying the synagogue and its 150 families are resilient.
“As Jackson’s only synagogue, Beth Israel is a beloved institution, and it is the fellowship of our neighbors and extended community that will see us through,” he said.
The congregation was founded in 1860, according to Beth Israel’s website. In 1967, local Ku Klux Klan members bombed the place of worship and the home of the rabbi at the time, who had spoken out against racism and segregation. No one was hurt in the civil rights-era bombings or Saturday’s fire.
Charles Felton, Jackson Fire Department chief of fire investigations, told NPR in an interview on Sunday that flames and smoke caused extensive damage and destroyed Beth Israel’s library, where he says the fire was started. The fire was reported to 911 just after 3 a.m.
“All contents in that library are destroyed. There’s not much that can be retrieved from the library area. The other portions of the building do not have actual fire damage, but they have damage as far as smoke and soot,” he said.
Shemper said the fire destroyed two Torahs, the Jewish sacred texts, and damaged five others. A Torah that survived the Holocaust was protected by a glass display case and was not damaged. The synagogue’s Tree of Life plaque honoring congregants’ meaningful occasions was destroyed. Shemper said the library, administrative offices and the lobby suffered the most damage.
Surveillance video shows a man wearing a hoodie and a mask pouring liquid from a can inside the synagogue, according to Shemper. Felton said Jackson Fire investigators later received information from an area hospital that led them to the suspect, who was arrested Saturday evening.
“There was a suspect possibly burned at a local hospital,” he told NPR. “They did go to the hospital at which point they interviewed the person of interest and that person did confess to having involvement in the fire.”
The Jackson Fire Department’s powers include the authority to charge suspects, according to Felton, who said the department has filed arson charges against the suspect, who authorities have not publicly named. He said federal authorities will make a determination on whether to pursue hate crime charges.
The FBI’s office in Jackson said in a statement that it was aware of the incident and was working with other law enforcement on the investigation.
Jackson Mayor John Horhn said the city stands with Beth Israel and the Jewish community.
“Acts of antisemitism, racism, and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as acts of terror against residents’ safety and freedom to worship,” said a statement from the mayor’s office.
Beth Israel is planning to immediately move forward.
“With support from our community, we will rebuild. Beth Israel Congregation has been the Jewish spiritual home in Jackson, Mississippi, for over 160 years,” said Shemper’s statement. “We are devastated but ready to rebuild.”
He said several local churches have offered temporary space for Beth Israel to continue services.
The attack comes after investigators say a father and son opened fire on Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, last month. Fifteen people were killed and dozens were injured.
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