The US Department of Justice on Friday announced charges against a man allegedly directed by Iran to orchestrate the assassination of US President-elect Donald Trump during his campaign period.
According to the charges, an operative from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps(IRGC), which the US designates as a terrorist organisation, had directed Afghan national Farhad Shakeri to devise the scheme in October.
Attorney General Merrick B Garland said: “There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran.”
Garland elaborated that the Justice Department “has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump”.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said: “The charges announced today expose Iran’s continued brazen attempts to target US citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran.”
Based on FBI agents’ reports, Shakeri revealed details about a planned assassination attempt on Trump during phone discussions in recent months. The discussions with FBI agents occurred as Shakeri sought to secure a reduced sentence for an individual currently serving time in a US prison.
In September, Shakeri informed the FBI that an IRGC official had contacted him regarding the orchestration of Trump’s assassination. When Shakeri indicated to the IRGC official that the operation would require substantial financial resources, the official reportedly stated: “Money’s not an issue.”
On October 7, Shakeri received instructions to devise a strategy for Trump’s elimination within a week’s timeframe.
Who is Farhad Shakeri
Farhad Shakeri, a 51-year-old Afghan national and reported IRGC operative, immigrated to the United States as a child but was deported around 2008 following a 14-year prison sentence for a robbery conviction.
In 2005, Shakeri was moved to a facility in Beacon, where officials state he first met Rivera. He remained in the United States until he was deported in 2008.
Records from the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision indicate his parole supervision ended in 2015.
The indictment states that he was arrested again in Sri Lanka four years afterwards, in connection with the confiscation of 92 kilogrammes of heroin.
Shakeri allegedly leveraged a network of criminal associates he had encountered in US prisons to support the IRGC by recruiting operatives for surveillance and assassination missions against IRGC targets, according to the statement.
Two New York residents, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt, whom Shakeri had met in prison, were also charged in connection with a plot to kill a US-based journalist known for criticising Iran.
Whilst Shakeri remains in Iran, Rivera and Lodholt conducted surveillance on the journalist and provided regular updates to him.
