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The Department of Justice announced federal charges Friday for thwarting an Iranian plot to kill President Donald Trump before the presidential election.
Iranian authorities asked Farhad Shakeri, 51, in September to focus on surveillance and ultimately assassinating President Trump, according to court documents. Shakeri remains at large in Iran, according to the Justice Department.
This is a newly uncovered conspiracy that signals yet another suspected attempt on President Trump’s life by the Iranian regime.
Prosecutors initially claimed that Shakeri, who participated in recorded conversations with law enforcement, was tasked by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to carry out other assassinations against American and Israeli nationals in the United States. are. But on October 7, Revolutionary Guards officials told Shakeri to focus solely on Trump and said he had seven days to plan his assassination, according to court documents.
Mr. Shakeri, an Afghan citizen living in Tehran, told investigators that if the Revolutionary Guards could not come up with a plan within that time frame, they believed Mr. Trump would lose, so they would not proceed with the plan until after the presidential election. He said he would wait.
Two other people indicted on Friday, American citizens Carlyle Rivera and Jonathan Rodholt, were arrested in New York on suspicion of helping the Iranian government monitor another Iranian-American citizen. They made their first court appearance Thursday and are being held pending trial, the Justice Department said.
In a statement released Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray condemned the Iranian government’s continued threats against individuals in the United States.
“There are few forces in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran,” Garland said. “The Department of Justice has indicted an Iranian regime official tasked with directing a network of criminal associates to facilitate assassination plots against Iranian targets, including President-elect Donald Trump.”
The US government seeks to kill President Trump and his former advisers, who ordered the attack, in retaliation for Iran’s 2020 drone strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani, the commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards. We have repeatedly expressed concerns that this may be the case.
In a series of five interviews with the FBI, Mr. Shakeri said he met senior members of the Revolutionary Guard through his work in Iran’s oil and fuel business. When the official learned that Mr. Shakeri had previously lived in New York, he asked for help in “investigating” individuals in the United States. Shakeri said he met with officials more than a dozen times at meetings at various restaurants.
According to court documents, Shakeri relied on a “network of criminal associates” he met while serving time in a New York prison to supply operatives to Iranian officials in the United States and assist in surveillance and assassination plots on their behalf. did.
According to court documents, Shakeri planned to pay these criminal associates, as well as two of his co-conspirators, to monitor victims whom Iranian authorities were attempting to assassinate. Iranian-American journalist and political activist Masih Alinejad acknowledged Friday that he was one of the victims targeted.
According to the Justice Department, Alinejad has been the target of multiple assassination plots.
The two defendants also allegedly surveilled Alinejad at a lecture earlier this year and at her New York home.
In a voice memo between the defendants, Rivera told the other defendants: And it’s hard to catch her, so you can’t pull up easily unless you’re lucky. Unless you’re lucky in the lottery. ”
In separate notes, the defendants discuss where Alinejad spent time in his home and how best to carry out the assassination.
According to the complaint, Mr. Rivera and Mr. Rodholt discussed paying the $100,000 with Mr. Shaqueri, saying they wanted to “take care of it now,” but they preferred to pay it upfront.
Prosecutors said Revolutionary Guards officials also asked Mr. Shakeri to help plan a mass shooting targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka, and U.S. and Sri Lankan authorities said they had no plans to attack tourists. We are asking you to warn us about the threat. Mr. Shakeri also said he was tasked with surveilling and assassinating two individuals identified only as Jewish businessmen living in New York City.
This story has been updated with additional details.
Correction: An earlier version of this article said all three were specifically charged with conspiracy against Donald Trump.
