Trump target of Iranian assassination plot, DOJ says

Iranian officials took steps to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump weeks before the election, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday. The DOJ unsealed a criminal complaint alleging that the Iranian government tried to convince Iranian national Farhad Shakeri to orchestrate Trump’s assassination just weeks before the 2024 presidential election.

How do agents know this? Shakeri, who U.S. authorities described as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps asset based in Tehran, had criminal associates in the United States stalk critics of Iran, the DOJ said. According to the DOJ’s indictment, Shakeri told FBI agents that an Iranian government official told him to put all his plots to murder American citizens on hold and focus on assassinating Trump within a week. Shakeri told agents that he had no intention of actually trying to kill Trump during that time, acccording to the DOJ.

So if he had no intention to do so, why is he being charged? Prosecutors are charging Shakeri and two associates with participating in a murder-for-hire scheme directed at another, unnamed American citizen. They also face charges of money laundering and providing material support to a terrorist organization. Authorities arrested the two associates in New York: Carlisle Rivera, also known as Pop, 49, of Brooklyn; and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island. Shakeri remains at large.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how the DOJ charged another Iranian national with trying to murder another U.S. politician.