A 21-year-old woman has been arrested after stabbing her date inside a Nevada hotel room in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian leader in 2020, authorities said.
The 21-year-old woman, Nika Nikoubin, is facing multiple charges, including attempted murder, two counts of battery and burglary of a business, according to KLAS-TV’s report. A judge set her bond at $60,000.
Nikoubin met the victim on a dating website called Plenty of Fish and both agreed and set a date to meet at the Sunset Station Hotel and Casino in Henderson. On March 5, Nikoubin and the man met and rented a room together, according to police in the city near Las Vegas.
As the pair began enjoying themselves, Nikoubin reportedly blindfolded the man and turned off the lights, KLAS reported. A few minutes later, the man “felt a pain on the side of his neck,” the news outlet reported.
Police said Nikoubin stabbed the man in the neck in revenge “against US troops for the killing of Iranian leader Qassem Soleimani in 2020.”
After being stabbed, the victim pushed Nikoubin off him, fled from the room and called 911, police said. The Henderson Police Department said the victim called around 10:30 p.m. Saturday from the 14th floor of the hotel to report that he had been stabbed in the neck by a woman he met on a dating app.
Nikoubin also ran from the room and told a hotel worker that she had just stabbed a man, cops said.
When asked about the motive behind her attack, the woman reportedly told an investigator that “she wanted revenge,” saying she had listened to a song called “Grave Digger,” which “gave her the motivation… to carry out her revenge.”
“She advised that there are injustices, in particular the killing of Qasem Soleimani in Iran,” according to the arrest report. “Nikoubin stated she wanted revenge.”
Nikoubin told investigators that she only wanted to injure the man, not kill him, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, citing the police report.
She is being held on a $60,000 bond pending a court appearance on March 24. Authorities said Nikoubin has no ties to the Las Vegas community. Details about the victim’s condition and identity were not immediately available.
