I don't know about you, but I have a certain view of 1% motorcycle clubs. Chief among those views is that they don't appreciate authority. So when I likely wouldn't have expected the Hells Angels to be contracted out by Iranian intelligence.
But that's what the latest reporting by the Washington Post alleges.
According to the paper, over the last decade, both the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) and the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have contracted killings, abductions, and threats out to the MC, as well as other criminal gangs, around the world.
The idea behind these plots is one as old as time itself, in that the services use intermediaries to obscure the state's involvement. US intelligence services have done this numerous times throughout history, including the whole Iran-Contra affair, as well as our support for the Mujuhadeen in the '80s who fought the Russians in Afghanistan.
According to the Post, "With hit men it has hired in the criminal underworld, Iran has commissioned plots against a former Iranian military officer living under an assumed identity in Maryland, an exiled Iranian American journalist in Brooklyn, a women’s rights activist in Switzerland, LGBTQ+ activists in Germany and at least five journalists at Iran International, as well as dissidents and regime critics in a half dozen other countries, according to interviews and records."
But the involvement of the Hells Angels is an interesting one, as it represents an odd pairing of ideologies. The Post reports, "The incongruous partnership between an Islamic theocracy and a notorious biker gang was driven in part by necessity, officials said, given the resources U.S. security agencies devote to preventing Iran from deploying operatives to the United States."
What that means is that the US, UK, and other aligned countries devote a ton of resources into keeping direct Iranian involvement at bay. Both the MOIS and IRGC are constantly being observed, both in terms of practical observation on the ground of its members, as well as financially. That leaves Iran's government few options to take direct action against its perceived opponents, which lends itself to contract things out through certain aligned or non-aligned groups.
Yet, while not overtly racist, former President of the Oakland, California chapter Sonny Barger once told the BBC, "The club, as a whole, is not racist but we probably have enough racist members that no black guy is going to get in it." Maybe the MC didn't know who it was being used by? Or maybe it doesn't care so long as the check clears or bag of cash appears.
Other instances involving the Hells Angels include two MC members who were caught after they contracted a $350,000 price to kill a defector and their wife in Canada, with instructions to make the slayings gruesome and act as a warning. There were also asks for bombings, other killings, and threats which had been contracted out to Hells Angels members around the world, as well as ties to an Iranian drug lord who served as the intermediary between state services and the club.
The whole story is worth your time and reading, as it lays out a picture of current club operations that are starkly different from what's been said to media outlets by the MC as of late.
