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3 Charged in Iran-Linked Murder Plots, One Targeting Donald Trump in Retaliation for Qassem Soleimani Killing: DOJ
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3 Charged in Iran-Linked Murder Plots, One Targeting Donald Trump in Retaliation for Qassem Soleimani Killing: DOJ

Three people have been charged in a series of alleged murder plots linked to Iran, one of whom is accused of trying to assassinate the president-elect. Donald Trumpand others targeting an Iranian-American activist and two Jewish Americans living in New York, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in New York.

Farhad Shakeri, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt are charged with murder on their own, according to the suit US Department of Justice. Rivera and Loadholt were arrested, while Shakeri, whom the FBI described as an “active” member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is believed to be in Tehran.

IRGC Assigned Shakeri to Surveil and Kill Trump in Revenge the death of Qassem Soleimanithe leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force in a January 2020 U.S. drone strike in Baghdad, according to the complaint.

PHOTO: Iranian protesters hold up posters of late Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, center, who was killed in Iraq in a US drone strike in 2020, during an annual rally in front of the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 3. 2024. (Vahid Salemi/AP)PHOTO: Iranian protesters hold up posters of late Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, center, who was killed in Iraq in a US drone strike in 2020, during an annual rally in front of the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 3. 2024. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

PHOTO: Iranian protesters hold up posters of late Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, center, who was killed in Iraq in a US drone strike in 2020, during an annual rally in front of the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 3. 2024. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

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

Shakeri immigrated to the United States but was deported in 2008 after serving prison time for robbery, according to the Justice Department. While in prison, he met Rivera and Loadholt and hired them targeted an Iranian American activist living in Brooklyn, according to the complaint.

MORE: Journalist targeted in alleged murder plot: ‘I was given a second life’

Although not named in the complaint, the activist fits the description of Masih Alinejad, a prolific journalist and human rights activist who has criticized the Iranian government and been targeted in several plots. Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges last month against IRGC Brig. General Ruhollah Bazghandi in connection with an alleged murder plot against Alinejad.

Alinejad later posted on social media that she was one of the targets, written“I am shocked. Just learned from the @FBI that two men were arrested yesterday in a new plot to kill me at Fairfield University where I was scheduled to give a talk.”

The IRGC also commissioned the Shakers to carry out other assassinations against American and Israeli citizens in the United States, including Trump, the complaint alleges.

PHOTO: Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting in Cumming, Georgia, October 15, 2024. (Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images)PHOTO: Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting in Cumming, Georgia, October 15, 2024. (Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images)

PHOTO: Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting in Cumming, Georgia, October 15, 2024. (Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images)

In mid-to-late September, Shakeri told the FBI that the IRGC official had instructed him to “set aside other efforts” and “focus on the surveillance and ultimately the assassination of former United States President Donald J. Trump.” . said complaint. When Shakeri told his manager that it would cost a lot of money, the IRGC official is quoted as replying that “we have already spent a lot of money… so money is not a problem.”

Shakeri told the FBI that during an Oct. 7 meeting with his IRGC manager, he was asked to provide a plan within seven days to kill Trump. If it couldn’t be done in that time frame, the IRGC would put off its plan to kill Trump until after the election “because IRGC-1 official assessed that (Trump) would lose the election and after that it would be more easy to assassinate (Trump),” the complaint says.

MORE: Suspect pleads not guilty in alleged plot to kill Donald Trump

He also said he was tasked with surveilling two Jewish-American citizens living in New York City and was offered $500,000 by an IRGC official to kill either victim, according to the complaint. He was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka, the complaint said.

“Actors led by the Government of Iran continue to target its citizens, including President-elect Trump, on U.S. soil and abroad. This must stop,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “Today’s charges send another message to those who continue their efforts – we will remain relentless in our pursuit of bad actors, no matter where they live, and will stop at nothing to bring to justice those who harm our safety and security.”

3 Charged in Iran-Linked Murder Plots, One Targeting Donald Trump in Retaliation for Qassem Soleimani Killing: DOJ originally appeared on abcnews.go.com