Masih Alinejad: Iranians 'plotted to kidnap US, Canada and UK targets'

Four Iranian intelligence officials have been charged with plotting to kidnap a New York-based journalist critical of Iran, US prosecutors say.

The indictment did not name the target, but Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American author and activist, says it was her.

The conspirators, who all live in Iran and remain at large, also allegedly plotted to lure a person in the UK and three others in Canada to Iran.

Iran's government said the allegations were "ridiculous and baseless".

The US justice department says the Iranian officials sought to lure the New York-based journalist to a third country where the abduction was planned.

The plotters even offered money to the writer's relatives in Iran to betray them, which they refused to do, the indictment contends.

They hired private investigators to spy on the target's Brooklyn home and family, and set up a live video feed of the property.

They also researched a service offering military-style speedboats for evacuation from New York City, and maritime routes to Venezuela, an ally of Iran.

The intelligence officials worked to procure surveillance of the four people targeted in Canada and the UK, according to the indictment.