NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a senior Iranian military official and three others with links to that country’s government with plotting to kill an Iranian American author on U.S. soil — a development lauded by the alleged target.

“This is a beautiful day for me. It’s like I’ve been given a second life,” Masih Alinejad said of her reaction after eight FBI agents and Justice Department officials told her about the charges filed against Brig. Gen. Ruhollah Bazghandi, a senior official in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and three other men.

Bazghandi, who previously served as chief of the Revolutionary Guard’s counterintelligence department, and the three other defendants live in Iran and remain at large, according to prosecutors. Five others were previously charged in the alleged plot, including three people who are in custody.

Alinejad, 48, said she “screamed out of joy” when she was first told of the new charges and how they show that the Iranian government was involved in the plot against her. She hugged each of the agents and officials before breaking into tears.

“Oh my god. I love America. Thank you,” she recalled telling them.