Key Takeaways:
– Federal prosecutors expose Iranian government’s plot to assassinate Donald Trump.
– Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan national, discloses the assassination plan during FBI interviews.
– The plan involved surveillance and eventual assassination, commissioned by Iranian paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
– The plot surfaced after Donald Trump survived two previous assassination attempts.
– Two other men, beside Shakeri, were charged for participating in separate assassination plots targeting an Iranian-American critic of the Iranian regime.
US Uncovers Iranian Plot to Kill Trump
Federal prosecutors have unveiled an alleged plot by the Iranian government to assassinate Donald Trump in the months leading up to his victory against Vice President Kamala Harris in the recently held presidential election. The revealing information surfaced through a criminal complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court post-election.
Inside the Plot: Farhad Shakeri’s Role
The plot to kill Trump was discovered during FBI interviews with Farhad Shakeri, a 51-year-old Afghan national deported from the US over a decade ago after serving a prison sentence for robbery. During telephone interviews with the FBI, Shakeri disclosed that a contingence of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had instructed him around September to concentrate on surveilling and eventually assassinating Trump. Shakeri warned the Iranian official about the huge funding the operation would entail but was reassured about the availability of the required funds.
Trump Survives Prior Assassination Attempts
The revelation arrives after the former president survived two assassination attempts during his campaign. On July 13 a bullet grazed his right ear during a rally near Butler, Pa. An ensuing incident on Sept. 15 involved a man allegedly brandishing a gun at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump was playing. The man was apprehended and charged with plotting to kill the former president.
Unveiling Other Conspiracy Targets
On top of the plot against Trump, two other men, Carlisle Rivera from Brooklyn, N.Y, and Jonathon Loadholt of Staten Island, N.Y, were charged for their involvement in separate assassination conspiracies. One such plot targeted an Iranian American journalist vocal in criticizing the Iranian government. Both Rivera and Loadholt were arrested, presented before a federal magistrate judge in Manhattan, and ordered to be detained pending trial.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland asserts that the United States will not stand for such menacing attempts from Iran, which he described as one of the most significant threats to national security.
A Path of Conspiracies: Last Summer’s Charge
The federal authorities have, over the years, accused Iran of scheming to target U.S. officials. Last summer, Justice Department charged Asif Merchant, a Pakistan-national with Iranian ties, with an attempted act of terrorism and murder-for-hire. The intent was to assassinate a U.S. politician. Merchant was indicted in September.
Shakeri was also alleged to have used a group of criminals he met during his prison tenure to aid Iran’s Revolutionary Guard with suitable operatives to execute surveillance schemes and assassinations.
Shakeri plotted with two members of the criminal network, Loadholt and Rivera, by offering $100,000 to surveil a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin active in criticizing Iran’s government.
Iran’s Role in Threatening and Silencing Dissidents
Compliant records reveal Iran’s active role in instigating harmful actions against U.S. nationals and its allies. This move is seen as a revenge act for the U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020 that killed Qassem Suleimani, then-commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force.
In response, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray emphasized that no party could target and endanger U.S. citizens or its national security. Wray credited the FBI with effectively disrupting Iran’s deadly schemes, vowing to use all available resources to protect American citizens from Iran or any other adversary.