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US Charges Three In Alleged Iranian Plot To Assassinate Trump
U.S. prosecutors on Friday announced charges in an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate former president Donald Trump. According to the Justice Department, the plot was orchestrated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as retaliation for the 2020 U.S. strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, an action ordered by Trump during his presidency.
The Justice Department stated that Farhad Shakeri, 51, reportedly based in Iran, was “tasked” by the IRGC on October 7 to devise a plan to assassinate Trump, who won against Vice President Kamala Harris in the U.S. presidential election held earlier that week.
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Additionally, Shakeri and two other men, Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, both from New York, face separate charges for allegedly plotting to assassinate an Iranian-American dissident journalist based in New York. Rivera and Loadholt are currently in U.S. custody and made a court appearance in New York on Thursday, as confirmed by the Justice Department.
“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 criticize the regime in Tehran,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
The Justice Department described Shakeri as an “IRGC asset residing in Tehran.”
It said he immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported around 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for robbery.
“In recent months, Shakeri has used a network of criminal associates he met in prison in the United States to supply the IRGC with operatives to conduct surveillance and assassinations of IRGC targets,” the Justice Department said.
According to the indictment, Loadholt and Rivera, under Shakeri’s direction, spent several months conducting surveillance on a U.S. citizen of Iranian descent who is a vocal critic of the Iranian regime and has been the target of multiple assassination attempts. Although her identity was not disclosed, the charges come shortly after a Revolutionary Guards general faced charges in New York related to an alleged plot to kill dissident journalist Masih Alinejad, who resides in New York.
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The United States has long accused Iran of attempting to assassinate American officials in retaliation for the 2020 U.S. strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani.
Earlier this year, a Pakistani man with suspected links to Iran pleaded not guilty in New York to charges of attempting to hire a hitman to kill a U.S. politician or official. Additionally, the State Department has offered a $20 million reward for information leading to the capture of the alleged Iranian mastermind behind a plot to assassinate former White House official John Bolton.
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