Washington DC [US], November 9 (HBTV): The US Department of Justice on Friday (local time) charged an Iranian citizen who was allegedly tasked by Iran to assassinate Donald Trump before the upcoming presidential election.

Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, is accused of being an asset of the Iranian regime, directed to lead a network of criminal associates to carry out assassination plots against various targets, including President-elect Donald Trump, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice.

“The charges announced today expose Iran's continued brazen attempts to target U.S. citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders, and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

In addition to Shakeri, two individuals—Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn, New York, also known as "Pop," and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, New York—were charged in a criminal complaint related to their alleged involvement in a plot to murder a US citizen of Iranian origin in New York.

Rivera was arrested in Brooklyn, and Loadholt was arrested in Staten Island. Shakeri, however, remains at large and is believed to be in Iran. Rivera and Loadholt appeared in court in the Southern District of New York and were ordered detained pending trial.

“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.

“Actors directed by the Government of Iran continue to target our citizens, including President-elect Trump, on US soil and abroad. This has to stop,” said US Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York.

According to the statement, Iran has continued to target the US and its allies, partly in retaliation for the killing of General Qasem Soleimani, the then-Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force, who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.

Shakeri, an IRGC asset, immigrated to the US as a child but was deported in 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction. Recently, he reportedly used a network of criminal associates, whom he met while in prison, to support the IRGC’s surveillance and assassination activities.

This charge follows a reported gunfire incident that disrupted a rally of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Trump was escorted off the stage by US Secret Service agents following the incident. 

(ANI)