The US Department of Justice (DoJ) disclosed on Friday an alleged assassination plot by Iranian agents targeting President-elect Donald Trump. Court filings reveal that operatives linked to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed an agent, Farhad Shakeri, this September to devise a plan to monitor and assassinate Trump.
Prosecutors stated that Shakeri, a 51-year-old Iranian operative, was ordered to set aside his usual duties and focus on the mission. Shakeri reportedly warned his IRGC contact that the plan would require massive funds. The IRGC official assured him that money was “not an issue,” stating that they had already spent significantly on the operation. Following this, the official advised Shakeri to postpone the plan if he couldn't meet a seven-day deadline, expecting that a Trump defeat in the upcoming election would make it easier to carry out the assassination later.
The revelations come shortly after Trump’s election victory over Democratic challenger and Vice President Kamala Harris, amid what officials describe as continued efforts by Iran to target the former US president. Trump’s role in the January 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, has led to years of escalated hostility from Iran.
The DoJ had earlier brought charges in August against a Pakistani man with Iranian connections in a separate plot to kill Trump. Additional charges were filed later in September against three Iranian hackers who allegedly tried to disrupt Trump’s campaign by hacking into systems to undermine his re-election prospects. Officials expect US-Iran relations to further deteriorate in Trump’s second term, with anticipated policy measures, including stricter sanctions aimed at weakening Iran’s support for Middle Eastern militant proxies and curbing its nuclear program.
The Justice Department’s complaint also outlines a separate plot targeting Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist and prominent critic of Iran’s human rights abuses, women’s rights restrictions, and treatment of political dissidents. Living in Brooklyn, Alinejad has been the target of multiple assassination and kidnapping plots. Prosecutors allege that Shakeri recruited two associates in New York, Carlisle “Pop” Rivera, 49, and Jonathan Loadholt, 36, to help carry out the assassination, it has been learnt from a New York Times report. These men, both of whom met Shakeri during their time in prison, were reportedly involved in plans to surveil and attack Alinejad on behalf of the IRGC. US authorities have foiled previous attempts against her, including a 2021 kidnapping scheme and the 2022 arrest of a man with a rifle outside her home, as per the New York Times report.
Shakeri, who is believed to be in Iran, remains at large, while Rivera and Loadholt are in federal custody and have been charged with murder-for-hire and other related crimes. Shakeri, according to prosecutors, immigrated to the US as a child but was deported in 2008 following a conviction for robbery. During a series of telephone interviews with US agents, Shakeri described his assignment to plan Trump’s assassination, allegedly as part of an effort to negotiate a reduced sentence for an imprisoned associate.
(With inputs from agencies)
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