The US has charged an Iranian man, Farhad Shakeri, in connection with an alleged plot, directed by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump.
According to the Justice Department, Shakeri informed authorities that he was assigned on October 7, 2024, to devise a plan to kill Trump, although he claimed he had no intention of creating a plan within the IRGC’s timeframe.
Shakeri, 51, is described as an IRGC operative living in Tehran. He immigrated to the U.S. as a child but was deported around 2008 after a robbery conviction. Prosecutors believe he is currently at large in Iran.
Two New York residents, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt, who met Shakeri while in prison, are also charged with assisting him in plotting to kill a US citizen of Iranian descent in New York. This individual is an outspoken critic of the Iranian government and had previously faced threats on her life.
While prosecutors did not name the target, it aligns with descriptions of journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, who has campaigned against Iran’s head-covering laws for women.
Rivera and Loadholt are currently detained pending trial, and their attorneys have not yet commented on the charges.
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