US prosecutors have filed charges against individuals allegedly involved in an Iranian-directed plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
The plot, attributed to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was said to be in retaliation for the 2020 US airstrike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the Justice Department revealed on Friday, November 8.
The main suspect, Farhad Shakeri, 51, who is believed to have operated from Iran, was allegedly assigned by the IRGC on October 7 to orchestrate the plot targeting Trump, who had recently defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
Shakeri, along with two other men—Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, both from New York—also face charges in connection to another scheme to kill a prominent Iranian-American dissident journalist.
FBI Director Christopher Wray addressed the charges, stating, “The charges announced today reveal Iran’s persistent attempts to target US citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government officials, and dissidents critical of Tehran’s regime.”
According to the Justice Department, Shakeri had ties to the IRGC and had established a criminal network in the US.
He had been deported in 2008 after serving a 14-year prison sentence for robbery but allegedly used former criminal contacts to recruit operatives for surveillance and killings on behalf of the IRGC. Rivera and Loadholt are accused of surveilling a US citizen of Iranian descent who is known for publicly criticizing the Iranian government.
The US has raised concerns about Iran’s continued efforts to target American officials linked to the Soleimani operation.
Earlier this year, a Pakistani man connected to Iranian networks was charged in New York for hiring a hitman to target a US official. The State Department also recently offered a $20 million reward for information about an Iranian mastermind allegedly involved in a plot to kill former White House official John Bolton.
Investigations are ongoing, with Rivera and Loadholt currently in US custody and having appeared in a New York court on Thursday.
