Sunset Station Stabbing: Accused Iran ‘Avenger’ Faces Mental Health Exam

Posted on: March 24, 2022, 01:01h. 

Last updated on: March 24, 2022, 02:23h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A UCLA student who allegedly stabbed her internet date during sex in a Nevada hotel room in “revenge” for the assassination of an Iranian general will undergo a competency evaluation to see if she is fit to stand trial.

Nika Nikoubin
Unlikely terrorist: Nika Nikoubin is accused of stabbing her date in the neck in retaliation for the US drone attack that killed Qassem Soleimani. (Image: Facebook)

Nika Nikoubin, 21, will appear before a Nevada state judge on April 15, according to court documents. The judge will determine if she understands the charges against her. These include felony attempted murder and battery with a deadly weapon.

Nikoubin remains in custody on $60,000 bail following her arrest for the March 5 attack at the Sunset Station casino-hotel in Henderson.

Basic Instincts

Nikoubin met her unnamed victim on the dating website Plenty of Fish, and the pair agreed to meet at the casino, where they rented a room. They began drinking and then started having sex, according to the arrest report.

Nikoubin climbed on top of the man and blindfolded him before turning off the lights, police said. At one point, the victim felt his date reach for something on the nightstand and then experienced pain on the side of his neck.

He screamed and Nikoubin fled from the hotel room. Realizing he had been stabbed, the victim staggered into the hall for help. Ultimately, he survived his injuries.

Meanwhile, Nikoubin told a casino employee she had just stabbed someone.

When the police arrived, she told them she had attacked the man in retaliation for the killing of Qassem Soleimani in a January 2020 targeted US drone strike in Iraq.

Designated Terrorist

Soleimani was the head of the expeditionary Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. He  was considered by some analysts to be the second most powerful man in Iran after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

In 2005, the US government declared Soleimani to be a “terrorist or supporter of terrorism.” His death, ordered by then-US President Donald Trump, was controversial. It was the first targeted drone killing of a senior foreign government official on the territory of a third country, and it was possibly illegal under US and international law, according to critics.

The US government said Soleimani was planning attacks on US embassies.

Iranian military responded by launching ballistic missiles at two US bases in Iraq. The attacks resulted in no casualties, but caused traumatic brain injuries in over 100 US troops, according to the Pentagon.

Nikoubin’s social media profiles paint her as an unlikely terrorist. Originally from Lubbock, Texas, she was a member of her high school cheerleading team and ran for school president before attending UCLA to study philosophy. While there, she was president of a college debate team that appeared in national competitions.

It is unclear whether her victim had links to the US military.