The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed charges against three alleged hitmen in connection with a thwarted Iran-backed plot to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump.
Suspects Carlisle Rivera and Jonathon Loadholt, both from New York City, have been arrested. Another individual named Farhad Shakeri, who was identified as an asset of Iran's ideologically-driven military wing, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), remains at large in Iran.
"There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran," said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement. "The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran's assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump."
The suspects have been slapped with a range of charges, including murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The call to hire hitmen was placed in late September, with the hired individuals planning to take out the former president before the Nov. 5 election.
"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," Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray said highlighting the seriousness of the case.
A federal official said that an unnamed official with the IRGC contacted Shakeri, a career criminal who previously served 14 years in a U.S. prison for a robbery conviction in December 2023, and instructed him to plan to assassinate Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist who lives in Brooklyn and a staunch critic of President Joe Biden's regime.
Shakeri then used his criminal network to hire Rivera of Brooklyn and Loadholt of Staten Island to conduct surveillance. He reportedly exchanged a series of voice messages with the two New Yorkers about Alinejad's whereabouts, routine and how the victim spent most of her time at home. He also instructed them to wait for their opportunity to kill the journalist.
"You just gotta have patience," according to the voice recordings gathered by the DOJ. "You gotta wait and have patience to catch her either going in the house or coming out, or following her out somewhere and taking care of it."
But in mid to late September, Shakeri was ordered to drop all his plans and instead plot to kill Trump.
Shakeri reportedly met with the Iranian military officials on Oct. 7, the first anniversary of the Hamas terror attack on Israel, where they instructed him to present an assassination plot within seven days. However, Shakeri claimed to the FBI that he did not intend to propose a plan to kill Trump within the timeframe set by the Iranian government, the DOJ said.
As per the criminal complaint, if Shakeri was unable to create a meticulous plan, they would pause the plan until after Election Day because Iran believed that "Trump would lose and it would be easier to assassinate him."
Iran denies assassination plans on Trump
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reacted to the DOJ's allegation, denying any assassination plot against the incoming president.
"Remember the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran right after our president's inauguration? Everyone knows who did it and why. Now, with another election, a new scenario is fabricated with the same goal: as a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in to manufacture a third-rate comedy," Araghchi posted on X.
"Who can in their right mind believe that a supposed assassin SITS IN IRAN and talks online to the FBI?!" he further tweeted in disbelief.
According to the diplomat, the world should consider the reality that the American people have made their decision and that Iran respects their right to elect the president of their choice.
"The path forward is also a choice. It begins with respect. Iran is NOT after nuclear weapons, period. This is a policy based on Islamic teachings and our security calculations. Confidence-building is needed from both sides. It is not a one-way street," he also argued.
The said liquidation attempt surfaced on Nov. 8, shortly after Trump was declared the incoming president of the United States. (Related: Trump has long been the subject of exceptionally vicious threats and violent rhetoric – so why isn't he being better protected?)
Head over to Trump.news for stories related to the failed assassination attempts on Trump.
Watch the video below that talks about the hidden threats on the life of President-elect Donald Trump.
This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.
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