The United States has charged an Iranian man in connection with an alleged plot ordered by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump, the US Department of Justice said on Friday.
The ministry said in a statement that Farhad Shakeri informed law enforcement authorities “that on October 7, 2024, he was assigned to submit a plan to kill” Trump. Shakeri allegedly told law enforcement that he had no plans to formulate a plan to kill Trump within the IRGC’s timeline.
The ministry described Shakeri (51 years old) as a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and residing in Tehran. She said he immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported in 2008 or so after being convicted of theft. Prosecutors said Shakeri is at large and believed to be in Iran.
Two New Yorkers whom Shakeri met in prison, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt, were also accused of helping Shakeri plan to kill an Iranian-American citizen in New York, described as an outspoken critic of the Iranian government and previously targeted. On charges of murder.
The prosecution did not identify the target, but he matched the description of Masih Alinejad, a journalist and activist who criticized the head covering laws for women in Iran. Four Iranians were charged in 2021 in connection with a plot to kidnap her, and in 2022 a man was arrested in possession of a gun outside her home.
Rivera and Loadholt were ordered detained pending trial. Their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.