The United States has charged an Iranian national, Farhad Shakeri, for allegedly plotting to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump, a plan the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) claims was orchestrated by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Shakeri reportedly informed U.S. law enforcement officials that, in early October, he was directed to devise a plan to kill Trump but admitted he had no intention of completing the task within the timeframe set by the IRGC.
In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei dismissed the allegations, calling them a “repulsive plot” attributed to foreign influences intending to deepen U.S.-Iran tensions.
The DOJ identifies Shakeri, 51, as a Tehran-based Revolutionary Guard operative with a history of ties to the United States, where he resided as a child before being deported in 2008 after a robbery conviction. Currently, he remains at large in Iran.
Additional charges were filed against two New York residents, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt, who were allegedly recruited by Shakeri during a previous prison stint to assist in a separate plot aimed at an outspoken Iranian-American critic of Tehran’s government. Though unnamed in the DOJ’s announcement, the target aligns with the profile of activist and journalist Masih Alinejad, who has previously been the subject of multiple alleged plots linked to Iranian operatives.
Both Rivera and Loadholt remain in detention while awaiting trial, with no immediate comment from their defense teams.
