The foiled assassination plot was allegedly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to avenge the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in 2020 in a US strike ordered by then-president Trump, the Justice Department said.
Farhad Shakeri, 51, who is believed to be in Iran, was “tasked” on October 7 by the IRGC with providing a plan to kill Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s US presidential election, the department said in a statement.
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The agency said Shakeri and two other men, Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, both of New York, were charged separately with plotting to kill a dissident Iranian-American journalist in New York.
Rivera and Loadholt are both in US custody and made a court appearance in New York on Thursday, the department 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 criticise the regime in Tehran,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
The Justice Department described Shakeri as an “IRGC asset residing in Tehran.”
