By Maria Ortiz
08 Nov 2024, 18:36 PM EST
He Department of Justice announced federal charges on Friday in a foiled plot by Iran to murder donald trump before the presidential elections and to other people in the United States.
Three men have been charged in connection with an alleged Iranian plot to kill people in the United States which included an alleged attempt to assassinate Donald Trump while he was campaigning for a second term in office, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
According to court documents, Iranian officials in September asked Farhad Shakeri, 51-year-old, to focus on monitoring and, ultimately, assassinate trump.
Shakeri remains at large in Iran, the Justice Department said.
This is a newly discovered plot and marks another alleged assassination attempt on Trump by the Iranian regime.
Attorney General Merrick Garland explained in a statement that the Iranian government tasked the defendant with “leading a network of criminal associates to further Iranian assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump.”
Prosecutors allege that Shakeri, who participated in recorded conversations with law enforcement, was originally tasked by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to carry out other murders against American and Israeli citizens within the United States.
But IRGC officials told Shakeri on October 7 that will focus only on Trumpaccording to court documents, and that he had seven days to formulate a murder plan.
Two other Americans participated in the Iran plot
Two other people charged on Friday, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholtwho are American citizens, were arrested in New York and are accused of helping the Iranian government surveil another American citizen of Iranian origin. They made their initial court appearance on Thursday, the Justice Department said, and They are detained awaiting trial.
If Shakeri did not have that plan ready by then, as he claimed was the case, Iranian militia would pause its mission until after the elections because they believed that Trump would lose them and that “later it would be easier” to assassinate him, the statement added.
The indictment was announced after Trump’s campaign said in September that US intelligence officials had warned the then-candidate “of real and specific threats from Iran intended to assassinate him.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in the statement that the lawsuit “exposes Iran’s blatant attempts against American citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders, and dissidents critical of the Iranian regime.”
Justice Department officials said Iran has been involved in a widespread effort to avenge the January 2020 death of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the leader of an elite Revolutionary Guard force who was killed by a drone strike. Americans in Baghdad. It was said that the objectives They included Americans and US allies.
A prominent Iranian dissident and journalist, Masih Alinejadwas identified in X as another victim named in the indictment. Alinejad, who lives in Brooklyn, has been targeted for assassination by Iran on multiple occasions on U.S. soil, according to investigators.
“There are few actors in the world that represent as serious a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in the statement.
Shakeri “was tasked by the regime to lead a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald J. Trump,” Garland said.
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