The US Department of Justice Iran on Friday announced charges against a man accused of directing the assassination of US President-elect Donald Trump during his campaign.
According to the allegations, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), designated as a terrorist organization by the US, instructed Afghan national Farhad Shakeri to carry out the plan in October.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland He said: “There are few actors in the world that pose as serious a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran.”
Garland elaborated that the Justice Department has “charged Iranian regime assets that the regime directed a network of criminal associates to direct Iran’s assassination plot against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump”.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said: “The indictments announced today expose Iran’s continued and brazen efforts to target American citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders and dissidents critical of Tehran’s regime.”
According to reports from FBI agents, Shakeri revealed details of a planned assassination attempt on Trump during phone conversations in recent months. Discussions with FBI agents took place as Shakari tried to secure a reduced sentence for a man currently serving time in a US prison.
In September, Shakeri informed the FBI that an IRGC official had contacted him about orchestrating Trump’s assassination. When Shakeri indicated to an IRGC official that the operation would require sufficient financial resources, the official reportedly said: “Money is not a problem.”
On October 7, Shakeri received instructions to devise a strategy to eliminate Trump within a one-week deadline.
Who is Farhad Sakeri?
Farhad Shakeri, a 51-year-old Afghan national and reported IRGC operative, immigrated to the United States as a child but was deported around 2008 after serving a 14-year prison sentence for robbery.
In 2005, Shakeri was transferred to a facility in Beacon, where officials said he first met Rivera. He stayed in America until he was deported in 2008.
New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records indicate his parole supervision ended in 2015.
It is mentioned in the indictment that he was re-arrested in Sri Lanka after four years on the charge of recovering 92 kg of heroin.
Shakari allegedly leveraged a network of criminal associates he encountered in US prisons to support the IRGC by recruiting operatives for surveillance and assassination missions against IRGC targets.
Two New York residents, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt, whom Shakeri visited in prison, were also indicted on charges of plotting to kill a US-based journalist known for his criticism of Iran.
While Shakeri was in Iran, Rivera and Lodholt monitored the journalist and gave him regular updates.
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