The Iranian government instructed one of its agents to stalk and assassinate former President Donald Trump this past September, according to a bombshell indictment unsealed by Manhattan federal prosecutors Friday.
The indictment, which charges Iranian Farhad Shakeri and two New Yorkers with murder for hire and conspiracy, states that an unnamed official in Iran’s notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) instructed Shakeri in the final weeks of the 2024 campaign to “focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating, former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.”
Prosecutors say that when Shakeri noted that the plot would “cost a ‘huge’ amount of money,” the IRGC official said that “we have already spent a lot of money … [s]o the money’s not an issue.”
In a phone conversation with an FBI agent, Shakeri said he was instructed by the IRGC on Oct. 7 of this year to have a plan in place to kill Trump “within seven days.”
If Shakeri did not meet his deadline, the IRGC contact allegedly said, the hit on Trump would be postponed until after the election, which Tehran assessed that the Republican nominee would lose “and, afterward, it would be easier to assassinate [him].”
Shakeri told the FBI he didn’t plan to propose a sceme to murder Trump within the seven days the official had requested, according to the complaint.
The charges were unsealed three days after Trump, 78, defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to become the 47th president-elect. It is the latest example of what officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target Trump and other current and former government officials on US soil.
The indictment, which refers to the president-elect as “Victim-4,” charges Shakeri, 51; Brooklyn native Carlisle Rivera, 49; and Staten Islander Jonathan Loadholt, 36, with murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and money laundering conspiracy.
Rivera and Loadholt were ordered held pending trial Thursday by US Magistrate Judge Jennifer Willis.
Shakeri, who is believed to be in Iran and out of the reach of American justice, is also charged with conspiring to violate US sanctions against Iran, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and conspiracy to the same.
“Actors directed by the Government of Iran continue to target our citizens, including President-elect Trump, on US soil and abroad,” Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement Friday. “This has to stop. Today’s charges are another message to those who continue in their efforts — we will remain unrelenting in our pursuit of bad actors, no matter where they reside, and will stop at nothing to bring to justice those who harm our safety and security.”
The indictment details that Shakeri was born in Afghanistan and emigrated to the US as child, but was deported in 2008 after serving a 14-year prison sentence for robbery. During his time behind bars, Shakeri met Rivera and Loadholt, later recruiting them to be hitmen
The feds say Shakeri initially tasked his cohorts with killing Iranian-American activist and journalist Masih Alinejad, an outspoken critic of the Tehran regime who has been targeted for assassination in the past by Iran.
Rivera and Loadholt pursued Alinejad for nine months, according to the indictment, with the former hit man allegedly complaining to Shakeri at one point: “This b—h is hard to catch, bro.”
Alinejad is not named in the indictment, but the court documents include details of her public schedule which match up with her public itinerary.
Other would-be targets of the trio included two “Jewish businesspeople residing in New York City,” according to the complaint. Shakeri claimed the IRGC had provided pictures of both potential victims, which “appeared to come from social media and which indicated [their] support for Israel.”
Shakeri also told the FBI that he had been instructed by Iran to plot a mass shooting targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka — which prompted the US and Israeli governments to issue a travel warning for the island nation on Oct. 23.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates.
