The Justice Department announced criminal charges Friday in a foiled Iranian conspiracy to assassinate Donald Trump before the presidential election.
According to court filings, Iranian officials instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, in September to focus on surveilling and eventually assassinating Trump. Shakeri remains at large in Iran, according to the Justice Department.
This is a freshly uncovered conspiracy, and the Iranian leadership is said to have attempted another assassination of Trump.
According to prosecutors, Shakeri, who engaged in recorded talks with law enforcement, was originally entrusted by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps with carrying out more attacks against US and Israeli nationals in the United States. According Iranian court filings, IRGC leaders directed Shakeri on October 7 to focus solely on Trump and gave him seven days to devise an assassination plan.
Shakeri, an Afghan national living in Tehran, told investigators that if he couldn’t come up with a plan in that timeframe, the IRGC would wait until after the presidential election to move forward because they expected Trump to lose.
Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt, both American citizens, were arrested in New York on Friday and charged with assisting the Iranian government in surveilling a separate US citizen of Iranian ancestry. According to the Justice Department, they appeared in court for the first time on Thursday and are being held in custody until trial.
Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray issued remarks on Friday condemning the Iranian government’s ongoing threats against persons in the United States.
“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” according to Garland. “The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump.”
Iran has “categorically dismissed” the Justice Department’s allegations.
The Foreign Ministry, in a Saturday post on social media platform X, described the assertions as “completely baseless and rejected,” adding that “similar accusations have been made in the past,” which Iran has “firmly denied and proven false.” The charges constitute a “malicious conspiracy” aimed at “further complicating the issues between the United States and Iran,” according to the ministry.
The US government has often expressed worry that Iran may attempt to revenge for a 2020 US drone strike that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a top general in the IRGC, by assassinating Trump, who ordered the strike, or his former advisers.
In five FBI interviews, Shakeri stated that he met a senior member of the IRGC while working in the Iranian oil and fuel industry. When the official realized Shakeri had previously lived in New York, he requested assistance “investigating” individuals in the United States. Shakeri claimed to have met with the official over a dozen times at various eateries.
According to court filings, Shakeri depended on a “network of criminal associates” he encountered while serving time in New York’s jail system to provide Iranian officials with operatives in the United States, as well as to assist in surveillance and murder plots.
According to court documents, Shakeri would pay these criminal acquaintances, including his two co-conspirators, to monitor the victims that Iranian officials planned to assassinate. Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist and political activist, confirmed Friday that she was among those targeted.
Alinejad has been the target of many assassination attempts, according to the Justice Department.
The two defendants reportedly tracked Alinejad at a speaking event earlier this year and at her New York residence.
In one audio communication between the defendants, Rivera stated, “This b*tch is hard to catch, bro.” And because she’s difficult to catch, there won’t be any easy pull-ups unless there’s luck of the draw. Unless it’s luck of the draw.”
In other documents, the defendants discussed where Alinejad spent her time at home and how to carry out the assassination.
According to the complaint, Rivera and Loadholt discussed a $100,000 payment with Shakeri to “take care of it already,” but Shakeri insisted on receiving the amount upfront.
According to prosecutors, IRGC commanders allegedly urged Shakeri to assist in the planning of a mass shooting targeting Israeli visitors in Sri Lanka, prompting US and Sri Lankan authorities to warn travelers of the potential attack. Shakeri also stated that he was charged with surveilling and assassinating two Jewish merchants in New York City.