DOJ announces charges in Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday that federal charges have been filed in connection with an Iranian plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election. The scheme, which was foiled before it could be carried out, further underscores the ongoing threats posed by the Iranian government against U.S. citizens and officials.

According to court documents, Iranian officials instructed Farhad Shakeri, a 51-year-old Afghan national living in Tehran, to surveil and ultimately assassinate Trump. Shakeri is currently at large in Iran, and the DOJ has not indicated any efforts to apprehend him. This plot is one of several attempts by the Iranian regime to target U.S. officials, particularly in retaliation for past American actions against Iran.

Shakeri’s task, according to the DOJ, was to carry out the assassination after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) gave him specific orders on October 7. Originally, Shakeri had been involved in other operations, including surveillance and assassination plans targeting U.S. and Israeli citizens. However, after the IRGC focused on Trump, Shakeri was given a tight deadline of just one week to come up with a plan. Shakeri later claimed that if he failed to devise an assassination strategy within the allotted time, the IRGC would wait until after the election to proceed, believing Trump would lose.

While Shakeri remains at large, two American citizens—Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt—were arrested in New York and charged with aiding the Iranian government. According to the DOJ, Rivera and Loadholt assisted Shakeri in surveilling a separate U.S. citizen of Iranian descent. The two men made their initial court appearances on Thursday and are being held pending trial.

Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned the ongoing threats posed by Iran, calling the regime a grave danger to U.S. national security. “There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” Garland said in a statement. “The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked to direct a network of criminal associates to carry out Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump.”

The Iranian government has strongly denied the charges. In a statement posted on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the allegations as “completely baseless” and accused the U.S. of attempting to fuel tensions between the two nations. “Similar accusations have been made in the past and have been proven false,” the ministry said, calling the charges part of a “malicious conspiracy.”

The plot is believed to be linked to the Iranian government’s long-standing animosity toward the U.S., particularly following the 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed General Qasem Soleimani, the leader of the IRGC’s Quds Force. Trump, who authorized the strike, has been a target of Iranian retaliation ever since. U.S. officials have long suspected that Iran might attempt to target Trump or his former advisers in response to Soleimani’s death.

Shakeri’s involvement in the plot is detailed in a series of FBI interviews, where he recounted his connection to the IRGC. Shakeri met a senior IRGC official through his work in the Iranian oil and fuel business. The official, knowing Shakeri had previously lived in New York, enlisted his help to investigate U.S. targets. Shakeri then used a network of criminal associates from his time in New York’s prison system to assist with surveillance and assassination planning on behalf of the Iranian regime.

Among the individuals targeted by Shakeri’s network was Iranian-American journalist and political activist Masih Alinejad. Alinejad, an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime, has been the subject of several previous assassination attempts, according to the DOJ. Rivera and Loadholt allegedly surveilled Alinejad both at a speaking event and at her home in New York. In voice memos, Rivera and Loadholt can be heard discussing their efforts to track Alinejad, with one message describing her as “hard to catch.”

In addition to the plot against Trump and Alinejad, Shakeri and his associates were involved in other assassination plans. One such plot included surveilling two Jewish businesspeople living in New York City. Furthermore, the IRGC had tasked Shakeri with organizing a mass shooting targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. The U.S. and Sri Lankan authorities had previously issued warnings about the threat of an attack.

In the case of Rivera and Loadholt, the two defendants reportedly discussed a $100,000 payment to Shakeri to help carry out one of the assassination plots. According to the complaint, they wanted the payment upfront before proceeding with their work.

This recent revelation adds to the growing concerns over Iran’s expanding efforts to target U.S. officials and citizens. The U.S. government has repeatedly warned of retaliation against Trump and his advisors for the killing of Soleimani. As the investigation continues, the threat of Iranian-sponsored attacks against American targets remains a serious concern for U.S. national security.

The DOJ’s charges underscore the seriousness of the ongoing threat posed by Iran, and the international community is watching closely as the situation develops.