The FBI foiled a chilling plot by Iran’s secret service to assassinate Donald Trump just a month before the election, US intelligence announced last night.
Three alleged assassins have been charged in connection with the ‘murder-for-hire’ plot ordered by the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in revenge for the 2020 assassination of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.
In the wake of the foiled plan, one of the would-be assassins Farhad Shakeri, 51, fled to Tehran after confessing to the FBI in recorded phone conversations that he had been ordered to delay the plot because Iran believed Trump would win the election to lose.
The assassin, who was described as an “asset” of the IRGC, told the law enforcement agency that they believed it would be easier to kill Trump without his entire presidential-level secret service.
Shakeri – along with New Yorkers Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathan Loadholt, 36 – is also accused of attacking an Iranian-American activist and was offered $500,000 to kill two Jewish businessmen living in the US.
Three alleged assassins have been charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump on orders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Images released by the Justice Department after the foiled attempt on Trump’s life
Photos released by the DOJ show the cache of weapons the suspected assassins had at their disposal
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He admitted to the FBI that the Iranians had spent as much money as possible to ensure that attempts to assassinate Trump were carried out. The other two men are currently in custody.
Trump has already survived two attempts on his life, including avoiding death by a fraction of an inch when he was shot in the ear during an election rally in Pennsylvania in July.
While in a US prison, Shakeri, described as an “asset” of the IRGC, recruited two armed American criminals to carry out the killing, the US Department of Justice said.
Shakeri, 51, said his Iranian handlers instructed him last month to come up with a plan within seven days to kill Trump before the election, according to documents released last night.
He explained that he had been tasked with surveilling and killing Trump to avenge the devastating drone strike that killed Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, in January 2020.
Since Soleimani’s death, Trump has been a target during his election campaign, where he requested military aircraft and greater secret service details to protect him from Iranian threats.
Shakeri reportedly told his Trump spymasters that Trump’s assassination would cost a “huge” amount of money, to which they reportedly replied, “We’ve already spent a lot of money, so the money isn’t a problem.”
Photos of Trump’s assassination attempt have been released by the government
Trump has been the target of Iranian assassination threats since he ordered the attack that killed Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s ruthless Quds Force.
Trump rises from the stage with his fist in the air after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July
FBI Special Agent Mathew Chrusz said this meant the Iranians had previously spent a significant amount of money trying to kill Mr Trump.
After being ordered to kill Trump within a month before millions of Americans went to the polls on November 5, Shakeri told the FBI he had no intention of carrying out the operation in the time frame given to him.
Shakeri – an Afghan refugee who was granted asylum in America – was deported back to Iran in 2008 after serving a 14-year sentence for armed robbery in New York state prisons
However, according to the FBI special agent, he had an extensive contact base in prison, recruiting two accomplices while in the US for his crime.
Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathan Loadholt, 36, were both in prison for violent crimes, and both men have now been arrested and charged with crimes related to “murder-for-hire.”
The disturbing documents released by the Justice Department on Friday revealed the arsenal of weapons the killers had at their disposal and the text messages they sent each other to hatch their deadly plan.
The trio also shared frightening voice messages, urging patience and explaining in detail how they would follow their goals.
But Shakeri, who has reportedly made confessions to US agents, is currently in the Iranian capital, beyond the reach of US law enforcement.
Photos released by DOJ on the foiled assassination attempt
They traveled to Fairfield University in Connecticut, where the person was scheduled to appear earlier this year, and also stalked her home in Brooklyn.
Announcing the charges, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said last night: “Few actors in the world pose as serious a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran.
“The Department of Justice has indicted an asset of the Iranian regime who was directed by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including newly elected President Donald J. Trump.”
According to the FBI, the IRGC also ordered Shakeri to carry out other assassinations of American and Israeli citizens in the United States.
Rivera and Loadholt were allegedly assigned by Shakeri to monitor an unnamed American citizen who is an “outspoken critic” of the Iranian regime.
“In exchange for Shakeri’s promise of $100,000, Rivera and Loadholt repeatedly attempted to locate Victim-1 for murder,” the complaint states.
They traveled to Fairfield University in Connecticut, where the person was scheduled to appear earlier this year, and also stalked her home in Brooklyn.
Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad said on Fox News on Friday that she is the person who was targeted for murder.
Shakeri told Rivera in a ballot while discussing the murder plot: “You just have to be patient… You have to wait and be patient to catch her when she goes into the house or comes out or follows her somewhere and for it cares. Don’t even think about going in. It’s a suicide attack.’
Alinejad said she is “grateful” to the FBI for briefing her ahead of the Fairfield University event, which she skipped to “project the students.”
‘I don’t want to die. I want to live and see the end of this regime,” Alinejad added.
This comes shortly after Trump said he would blow Iran “to smithereens” if he returned to the helm of the oval office last September.
It came as a former head of MI6 told Europe to wake up and ‘smell the coffee’ about the need to protect the continent after Trump’s presidential victory.
Three men living in New York have been charged in a murder-for-hire plot to take down the former president – who has already survived two attempts on his life – in revenge for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani
Trump celebrated his election victory on Wednesday morning with his wife Melania and 18-year-old son Barron
Sir Alex Younger said that subsequent generations would not easily forgive the political leaders of this era if they failed to take corrective action.
Yesterday he said on Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Trump has contempt for alliances, he takes a very transactional approach to them.
‘The safety guarantee that we have enjoyed for eighty years, since the Second World War, will of course have to change.’
In his first conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky since winning the election, Trump invited technology billionaire Elon Musk to join the conversation.
It’s the latest indication that Musk will play a prominent role in Trump’s administration.
It remained unclear last night what the Ukrainian president thought of this move, as he had previously clashed with Musk.