The United States has accused Iran of planning an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Learn more about the alleged plot and its potential impact on international relations.
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that an Iranian national and two Americans have been charged in connection with a murder-for-hire scheme targeting President-elect Donald Trump, along with an Iranian dissident.
Farhad Shakeri, Carlisle ‘Pop’ Rivera, and Jonathon Loadholt were mentioned in the criminal complaint released on Friday by the Southern District of New York. Rivera was apprehended in Brooklyn and Loadholt in Staten Island. As for Shakeri, he is “believed to reside” in Iran and has not yet been captured.
“The announcement of the charges today highlights Iran’s ongoing bold attempts to target US citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders, and dissidents who voice criticism against the Tehran regime,” stated FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Shakeri, aged 51, moved to the US as a child but was deported in 2008 after completing a 14-year prison sentence for robbery. The Department of Justice claims he is an asset of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and that he utilized “a network of criminal associates he met in prison” to conduct espionage on targets and plan their killings.
Rivera, aged 49, and Loadholt, aged 36, were reportedly offered $100,000 by Shakeri to track down and murder an unnamed Iranian dissident (Victim-1).
According to the Department of Justice, Shakeri participated in multiple “recorded interviews with law enforcement agents,” during which he claimed that on October 7, he was assigned by the IRGC to devise a plan for assassinating Trump.
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In the interview, Shakeri asserted that he had no intention of proposing a plan to assassinate Trump within the timeframe established by the IRGC, according to the DOJ. The reasons for Shakeri’s lack of arrest remain unclear.
The three individuals were charged with murder-for-hire, conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. If convicted, they could each face up to 40 years in prison. Additionally, Shakeri faces charges for providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiring to do so, and violating US sanctions on Iran. These charges carry the potential for an additional 60-year sentence if he is apprehended and convicted.
Although the DOJ emphasized that the defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty in court, Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland have pointed to the indictment as evidence that Iran is “actively targeting nationals of the United States and its allies living in countries around the world for attacks,” driven by a desire for revenge over IRGC Quds Force commander General Qassem Soleimani’s death in 2020.
Trump authorized a drone strike near the Baghdad airport in Iraq, resulting in Soleimani’s assassination.
The 45th President of the United States, who is anticipated to become the 47th, survived an assassination attempt on July 13 during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The Secret Service neutralized the assailant, identified as Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old American. Another attempted assassin named Ryan Routh was apprehended in September after planning an ambush at one of Trump’s Florida golf courses. There were no links found to Iran in either incident. Previously, Routh had attempted to recruit Afghan veterans for involvement with Ukraine against Russia.
