The US government has brought charges against an Afghan national in connection with an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump before he was elected as the next president.
The Department of Justice on Friday unsealed an indictment against Farhad Shakeri, 51, alleging he was tasked with “providing a plan” to kill Trump.
The US government said Mr Shakeri has not been arrested and is believed to be in Iran – which described the claims as “completely baseless”.
Mr Shakeri was asked to come up with a plan to kill Trump in seven days, the indictment alleges.
Mr Shakeri, Mr Rivera and Mr Loadholt were all charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
In relation to an alleged Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump prior to his election as the next president, the US government has charged an Afghan national.
The 51-year-old Farhad Shakeri was charged with “providing a plan” to kill Trump, according to an indictment the Department of Justice unsealed on Friday.
The US government called the accusations “completely baseless” and stated that Mr. Shakeri has not been detained and is thought to be in Iran.
In a criminal complaint submitted to a Manhattan court, prosecutors claim that in September, Mr. Shakeri was instructed by a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to plan the surveillance and assassination of Trump.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, “The Justice Department has charged an Iranian regime asset who was assigned by the regime to lead a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump.”.
Two other people were also charged by the justice department for allegedly being recruited to murder an American journalist who was a vocal opponent of Iran.
The justice department identified the other two as Jonathan Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, and Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn, also known as “Pop.”.
A trial is pending for the two, who made an appearance in court on Thursday in the Southern District of New York.
Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, said that similar claims of assassination attempts against US presidents had previously been made, which Iran refuted and later proved to be untrue.
Reiterating such claims runs the risk of “further complicating the issues between the US and Iran,” Mr. Baghaei added in a statement.
This year, there have been two distinct alleged assassination attempts on Trump. At a rally in Pennsylvania in July, a shooter shot at the former president, grazing his ear.
A man was then arrested in September for brandishing a rifle at Trump while he was playing golf on his West Palm Beach course.
Specifically, the indictment claims that Mr. Shakeri was asked to devise a plan to kill Trump within seven days.
Prosecutors claim that Mr. Shakeri informed law enforcement that he had no intention of putting forward a plan to assassinate Trump within that seven-day period, so Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials halted the plan.
According to Mr. Shakeri, the Iranian government told him that since they thought Trump would lose the election, it would be simpler to try to kill him after it was over, according to prosecutors.
According to the prosecutors, Mr. Shakeri is an Afghan national who immigrated to the United States as a young boy. After being convicted of robbery and serving 14 years in prison, he was finally deported in 2008.
The 51-year-old allegedly conducted surveillance on targets of the Iranian government by using “a network of criminal associates” from prison, including Mr. Rivera and Mr. Loadholt, according to the prosecution.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Shakeri offered Mr. Rivera and Mr. Loadholt $100,000 in exchange for killing the American journalist who had covered the corruption and violations of human rights committed by the Iranian regime. The unnamed journalist had previously been the target of attacks, according to the prosecution.
Brooklyn-based journalist Masih Alinejad said the FBI had detained two men for trying to kill her in a social media post on Friday. She said the alleged murderers showed up in front of her Brooklyn home.
Ms. Alinejad wrote: “I don’t want to die—I came to America to exercise my First Amendment right to freedom of speech.”. “I deserve to be safe and I want to fight against tyranny.”. “..”.
Along with Trump and the American journalist, the indictment claims the Iranian government attempted to assassinate two Jewish American businesspeople in New York City who were pro-Israel on social media.
A year after the Hamas attacks on Israel, in October 2024, Mr. Shakeri also told prosecutors that he was asked by his Iranian contacts to organize a mass shooting in Sri Lanka that would target Israeli tourists.
Charges of murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison, were brought against Mr. Shakeri, Mr. Rivera, and Mr. Loadholt. They are also accused of conspiring to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering conspiracy, which carries a 20-year prison sentence.
