The Justice Department says it has foiled an Iranian plot to kill President-elect Donald Trump in the run-up to the election.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan alleges that an unnamed official in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard ordered a contact to set up a plan to surveil and ultimately kill Trump.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE DOJ COMPLAINT (PDF)

“There are few actors in the world that pose as serious a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The Justice Department has charged an Iranian regime asset who was tasked by the regime with directing a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump.

“We have also charged and arrested two individuals who we allege were recruited as part of that network to silence and kill, on US soil, an American journalist who was a prominent critic of the regime,” he added Garland. “We will not tolerate the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security.”

The Justice Department says Farhad 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 around 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction”.

“Shakeri informed law enforcement that he was tasked, on October 7, 2024, with providing a plan to assassinate President-elect Donald J. Trump. During the interview, Shakeri claimed that he did not intend to propose a plan to kill Trump within the deadline set by the IRGC,” he added. “He also stated that he was tasked with surveilling two Jewish American citizens living in New York City and offered $500,000 by an IRGC official to kill any victim. He was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka.”

President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event in West Palm Beach, Florida (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Federal prosecutors also charged and arrested Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn, NY; and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, NY “in connection with their alleged involvement in a plot to kill an American citizen of Iranian descent in New York.”

“At Shakeri’s direction, Loadholt and Rivera spent months surveilling an American citizen of Iranian descent living in the United States (Victim-1). Victim-1 is an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime and has been the target of several prior kidnapping and/or murder plots directed by the government of Iran,” the Department of Justice said. “In exchange for Shakeri’s promise of $100,000, Rivera and Loadholt repeatedly sought to locate Victim-1 for the murder.”

Prosecutors say that during their efforts to locate and kill Victim-1, “Shakeri, Loadholt and Rivera shared messages about their progress and photos related to their scheme.

“For example, in or around February 2024, Rivera and Loadholt texted about a payment received from the Shakers, then traveled to Fairfield University, where Victim-1 was scheduled to appear, and took photos on campus,” according to the Department of Justice. “In a voice memo, Shakeri told Rivera that Victim-1 spent most of her time in certain locations of her home and told Rivera that ‘you have to be patient… You have to wait and have patience to catch her either walking in the house. or go out, or follow her somewhere and take care of it. Don’t even think about entering. It’s a suicidal move.

All three suspects now face charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carry maximum sentences of 10 to 20 years in prison.

“Shakeri was also charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers and Sanctions Act against the government of Iran, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison,” the Justice Department said.

BUNDLE: GET CONTINUOUS UPDATES ON THIS STORY FROM FOXNEWS.COM

The Associated Press contributed to this report.