A former Ann Arbor painter claimed he was working on behalf of Iranian intelligence when he solicited the murder of a California radio broadcaster who is critical of the Iranian regime, according to a U.S. embassy cable released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.

Mohammad Reza Sadeghnia, 43, formerly of Ann Arbor, is on probation after serving a year in the Men’s Central Jail at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for solicitation to commit murder.

AnnArbor.com was the first to report in June that Sadeghnia was under investigation by the FBI after being arrested in July 2009 by Glendora, Calif., police. Officers arrested Sadeghnia after he offered a man $27,000 to kill Djamshid Sharmahd, who runs radio and television programming for Los Angeles-based Tondar. The man rejected the offer, and Sadeghnia later pleaded guilty, police said.

The Iranian government claims Tondar is a terrorist organization because it took responsibility for the 2008 Shiraz bombing at a mosque in southern Iran that killed 14 people. But Tondar spokesman Iman Afar denied the organization is a terrorist group during an interview with AnnArbor.com in June.

According to the Jan. 21 cable from the U.S. Embassy in London, Sadeghnia “apparently admitted his surveillance” of Sharmahd and Ali Reza Nourizadeh, a vocal London-based critic of the Iranian regime. Sadeghnia introduced himself as a "big fan" of Nourizadeh and visited him several times in London and Washington D.C., the cable says.

After Sadeghnia's arrest for soliciting the hit on Sharmahd, the FBI shared information with UK authorities about Sadeghnia, the cable says. UK authorities told Nourizadeh that Sadeghnia was "working for the Iranian intelligence services and gathering information on Nourizadeh's habits." Nourizadeh had already stopped taking Sadeghnia's calls, the cable says.

Mohammad Reza Sadeghnia

According to the cable, Nourizadeh had become suspicious of Sadeghnia after Sadeghnia "insisted on taking large numbers of photos, including shots of Nourizadeh's car and garage," the cable says.

"His suspicions were confirmed after he received a message from a well-placed friend who told Nourizadeh he had seen dozens of photos of him on the desk of Iranian Deputy Intelligence Minister Alavi," the cable says.

Sadeghnia, who grew up in Iran, lived for years in Ann Arbor and owned a house painting company. Ann Arbor police records show Sadeghnia lived in the city as recently as August 2008, when he filed a report claiming a homeless worker for his company was threatening him.

To date, the FBI has executed two search warrants in the Ann Arbor area related to its investigation into Sadeghnia.

On Dec. 18, 2009, agents executed a search warrant at a storage unit on West Liberty Road near the Ann Arbor and Scio Township border, seizing four boxes of miscellaneous documents and items, a bag of cassette tapes, business cards and a notepad. On May 26, agents executed a search warrant on a safe deposit box at a South Main Street bank in Ann Arbor, but nothing was seized.

Among what agents were looking for: Instructions or information "concerning targeted individuals and entities, including but not limited to Djamshid Sharmahd, Iman Afar, Ali Reza Nourizadeh, the Shiraz bombing, and Iranian radio and television stations," search warrant records show.

Vicki Hampton-Franklin, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles, could not immediately be reached for comment today.

Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at (734) 623-2527 and e-mail at leehiggins@annarbor.com.