Federal prosecutors in the United States said this Friday (8) that Iranian conspirators planned to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump during his run for the White House.
According to documents mentioned by The New York Times, one of the people allegedly involved told authorities that he received orders last month to carry out the plan. The determinations would have been made by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the country’s elite force.
The Justice Department has formally charged three men with conspiracy. One of them, identified as Farhad Shakeri, 58, is an Iranian citizen and was deported from the US in 2008 after a robbery conviction, according to intelligence information. The man was reportedly tasked with “providing a plan to kill Trump” and is believed to be currently in the Middle Eastern country.
The other two accused individuals, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathon Loadholt, allegedly met Shakeri in prison and participated in another conspiracy, this one to murder an American citizen of Iranian origin described as a critic of the Ayatollahs’ regime.
Prosecutors did not identify the target, but the descriptions refer to Masih Alinejad, a journalist and activist who criticized the strict dress code imposed by the regime on Iranian women. Four people had already been accused, in 2021, of involvement in a plan to kidnap her and, in 2022, a man was arrested after being caught lying in wait with a rifle near the potential victim’s home.
“The charges announced today expose Iran’s continued and brazen attempts to target American citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders and dissidents critical of the regime in Tehran,” said Christopher Wray, director of the FBI.
“Iran has conspired with criminals and hired killers to target and kill Americans, on American soil. This will not be tolerated.”
When contacted by the Reuters news agency, lawyers for Rivera and Loadholt had not commented. Shakeri’s defense was not found.
Other alleged plans to assassinate Trump before the election had already come to light. One of them was detected in July, before the shooting of the Republican at a rally in Pennsylvania
Officials say the threats are evidence of long-standing plans by Tehran to avenge the assassination of General Qassim Suleimani, then head of the Quds Force, a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard responsible for operations abroad. A drone attack authorized by Trump, then president, was responsible for the death of the military leader in the first week of 2020.
Other threats against officials from the Republican’s first administration, such as Mike Pompeo, former secretary of state, and John Bolton, former national security advisor, resulted in both receiving protection from the American government even after leaving office.
