HENDERSON, Nev. – A woman is accused of stabbing her date at a Las Vegas-area hotel earlier this month in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed a top general in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani in a 2020, police said.
The victim reportedly met the suspect, identified as Nika Nikoubin, online before the two agreed to meet in person, KLAS-TV reported.
Nikoubin, 21, met the man on the dating website Plenty of Fish. On March 5, the victim picked the woman up at her home and they drove to the Sunset Station Hotel and Casino in Henderson and checked into a room together.
The stabbing occurred in a room at the Sunset Station Hotel. (Sunsetstation.com)
According to the police report, Nikoubin apparently took a shower to freshen up and then went to the lobby to get orange juice to put in the alcohol supplied by the victim, New York Post reported.
After drinking, the pair began to engage in sex. Nikoubin climbed on top of the victim and covered his eyes with a blindfold before turning off the lights.
Nika Nikoubin has been charged with attempted murder, two counts of battery with a deadly weapon and burglary of a business. (Facebook)
After a few minutes, the victim felt Nikoubin reach over to the nightstand to grab something. Suddenly, he “felt a pain on the side of his neck,” according to the report.
Once he was stabbed, the man shoved her off and yelled, “What are you doing?” before she ran from the hotel room and he called police.
Although it wasn’t clear where Nikoubin went or when officers took her into custody, she reportedly admitted to a hotel employee that she had just stabbed a man, police said.
Nika Nikoubin is being held on $60,000 bail. (Facebook)
According to police, Nikoubin said she stabbed the man in the neck “for revenge against US troops for the killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020.”
She claimed she only wanted to hurt the man, not kill him, according to investigators.
Soleimani, the top general who headed the expeditionary Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, had been responsible for the Islamic Republic’s foreign operations, according to the New York Post.
He gained prominence for advising Shiite paramilitary forces fighting ISIS in Iraq before it was defeated in 2017. President Trump was in office at the time of Soleimani’s death, and took great pleasure in letting the American people know that he was dead.
It was not immediately clear why Nikoubin selected the specific victim or whether he is a member of the military.
However, Creech Air Force Base is just north of Las Vegas, which is where the military flies many of the missions similar to the one that killed Soleimani, the Post reported.
Nikoubin reportedly has no ties to the grater Las Vegas area, authorities said.
The victim’s condition was unavailable, although the police report said he was not transported to a hospital after the stabbing.
Nika Nikoubin is charged with attempted murder after reportedly stabbing her date. (Henderson Police Department)
Nikoubin has been charged with attempted murder, two counts of battery with a deadly weapon and burglary of a business. She is being held on $60,000 bail. Her next court appearance is scheduled for March 24.
Henderson is approximately 15 miles southeast of Las Vegas.
