OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Justice Department has charged an Iranian citizen in a plot to assassination President-elect Donald Trump, though officials in Tehran have denied any involvement.
A criminal complaint filed in a New York City federal court revealed that an unnamed official from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, to “focus on surveilling, and ultimately assassinating, former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.”
“Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump,” it added.
On Saturday, Iranian government spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei “categorically dismissed allegations that Iran was involved in attempts to assassinate former and current US officials,” according to the foreign ministry.
Baghaei, who described the report as “completely baseless and rejected,” said Iran has been accused of similar scenarios in the past that have been “firmly denied and proven false.”
He said that repeating these types of claims “is a malicious conspiracy orchestrated by Zionist and anti-Iranian circles, aimed at further complicating the issues between the US and Iran.”
Baghaei concluded by saying Iran “remains committed” to using “all legitimate and legal means” at domestic and international levels to “restore the rights of the Iranian nation.”
Shakeri, who remains at large and is believed to be living in Iran, “immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported in or about 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction,” the DOJ said in a release.
Shakeri is also accused of directing two New York men, 49-year-old Carlisle Rivera and 36-year-old Jonathon Loadholt, to surveil and kill an American of Iranian origin—who “is an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime”—for $100,000.
The individual, identified as journalist Masih Alinejad, resides in the U.S. and has also been targeted by the Iranian government, according to the DOJ report.
“We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Shakeri, Rivera, and Loadholt face charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and money laundering conspiracy, each carrying a maximum penalty of 10 to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors also charged Shakeri with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and sanctions against the Government of Iran. Each of these charges carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Trump was the target of two assassination plots over the summer. On July 13, he was grazed on the right ear by a bullet fired by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, who managed to fire eight shots at the then-former president. A rally attendee behind Trump was killed, and two others were severely wounded.
Then, in September, Secret Service agents managed to thwart another attempt at Trump’s golf course near his Mar-a-Lago home. Ryan Wesley Routh set up along a hedgerow with a rifle near a green as Trump approached but was engaged by agents. He faces five charges, including the assassination attempt, gun charges, and assaulting an officer in that attempt.
Following the second plot, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino shared some troubling thoughts about it, even suggesting the possibility of a “mole” within the Secret Service or Department of Homeland Security.
Bongino highlighted several documented cases of foreign nationals or governments attempting to infiltrate and undermine federal agencies. He cited a notable example where two individuals were convicted of impersonating federal agents in an elaborate scheme that deceived the Secret Service.
He also suggested possible Iranian involvement.
“Is there a honeypot trap going on in the Secret Service? Is there a guy or a woman in the Secret Service having a relationship with someone who is not who they say they are?” he asked. “The Iranians have been running these traps in Israel and elsewhere. The Iranians who want to kill President Trump.
“Folks, how do we know that there’s not some kind of honeypot trap and that some agent or some DHS personnel, someone who has to be notified, is not in a relationship with someone?” he added.
