{"id":206700,"date":"2022-03-24T13:01:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T20:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=206700"},"modified":"2022-03-24T14:23:37","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T21:23:37","slug":"sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunset Station Stabbing: Accused Iran ‘Avenger’ Faces Mental Health Exam"},"content":{"rendered":"

A UCLA student who allegedly stabbed her internet date during sex in a Nevada hotel room in \u201crevenge\u201d for the assassination of an Iranian general will undergo a competency evaluation to see if she is fit to stand trial.<\/p>\n

\"Nika
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)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nika Nikoubin<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

Nikoubin remains in custody on $60,000 bail following her arrest for the March 5 attack at the Sunset Station<\/a> casino-hotel in Henderson.<\/p>\n

Basic Instincts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\n

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Nikoubin told a casino employee she had just stabbed someone.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Designated Terrorist<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Soleimani was the head of the expeditionary Quds Force of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps. He\u00a0 was considered by some analysts to be the second most powerful man in Iran after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n

In 2005, the US government declared Soleimani to be a \u201cterrorist or supporter of terrorism.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

The US government said Soleimani was planning attacks on US embassies.<\/p>\n

\n

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Nikoubin\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

It is unclear whether her victim had links to the US military.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A UCLA student who allegedly stabbed her internet date during sex in a Nevada hotel room in \u201crevenge\u201d for the assassination of an Iranian general will undergo a competency evaluation to see if she is fit to stand trial. Nika Nikoubin, 21, will appear before a Nevada state judge on April 15, according to court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":206703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSunset Station Stabbing: Accused Iran 'Avenger' Faces Competency Exam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nika Nikoubin stabbed date in the neck during sex at the Sunset Station in Henderson, Nev. In revenge drone killing of Qassem Soleimani.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunset Station Stabbing: Accused Iran 'Avenger' Faces Competency Exam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nika Nikoubin stabbed date in the neck during sex at the Sunset Station in Henderson, Nev. In revenge drone killing of Qassem Soleimani.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-24T20:01:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-24T21:23:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nika.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/\",\"name\":\"Sunset Station Stabbing: Accused Iran 'Avenger' Faces Competency Exam\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nika.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-24T20:01:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-24T21:23:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Nika Nikoubin stabbed date in the neck during sex at the Sunset Station in Henderson, Nev. In revenge drone killing of Qassem Soleimani.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nika.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nika.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"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)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legal\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sunset Station Stabbing: Accused Iran ‘Avenger’ Faces Mental Health Exam\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sunset Station Stabbing: Accused Iran 'Avenger' Faces Competency Exam","description":"Nika Nikoubin stabbed date in the neck during sex at the Sunset Station in Henderson, Nev. In revenge drone killing of Qassem Soleimani.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sunset Station Stabbing: Accused Iran 'Avenger' Faces Competency Exam","og_description":"Nika Nikoubin stabbed date in the neck during sex at the Sunset Station in Henderson, Nev. In revenge drone killing of Qassem Soleimani.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-03-24T20:01:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-24T21:23:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nika.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/","name":"Sunset Station Stabbing: Accused Iran 'Avenger' Faces Competency Exam","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nika.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-24T20:01:11+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-24T21:23:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Nika Nikoubin stabbed date in the neck during sex at the Sunset Station in Henderson, Nev. In revenge drone killing of Qassem Soleimani.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nika.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/nika.jpg","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"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)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sunset-station-stabbing-accused-iran-avenger-faces-competency-exam\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legal","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sunset Station Stabbing: Accused Iran ‘Avenger’ Faces Mental Health Exam"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206700"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}