IRAN he denied that he was behind an alleged plot to assassinate Donald Trump after US Department of Justice accused several men in connection with the plan.

Three alleged assassins were charged on Friday over a “murder for hire” scheme ordered by the dreaded Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

One of the men, Farhad Shakeri, is still on the run after fleeing from US for the Iranian capital Tehran where it is out of reach. He allegedly told the FBI that the Iranians had committed “a lot” of money to efforts to kill Trump. The other two are arrested.

The man said he was tasked by a government official before the presidential election to assassinate the Republican president-elect.

However, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei rejected the allegations, calling them a plot by Israel– linked the circles to complicate Iran-US relations, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Similar accusations in the past were rejected by Iran because their “heroism” had been proven, he said.

“Repeating the allegation in the current time frame is a disgusting plot by Zionist and anti-Iranian circles to complicate US-Iran issues,” Mr. Baghaei said.

The man claimed he was instructed by a government official before the presidential election to assassinate the Republican president-elect.

Investigators learned about the plot to kill Mr Trump from Farhad Shakeri, an alleged Iranian government operative who had served time in US prisons for robbery. Authorities say he maintains a network of criminal associates involved in assassination plots in Tehran.

Shakeri told investigators that in September a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him to hatch a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Mr. Trump, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Shakeri claimed that the Iranian official said that “we have already spent a lot of money” and that “money is not a problem”.

He told investigators that the official said that if they could not assemble a plan within the seven-day deadline, the plot would be shelved until after the election, assuming Mr. Trump would lose, making it easier to target him. the complaint says.

Shakeri is at large and remains in Iran.

Two other men allegedly recruited to participate in other assassinations, including that of a prominent Iranian-American journalist, were arrested on Friday.

Shakeri, an Afghan national who immigrated to the U.S. as a child but was later deported after spending 14 years in prison for robbery, also told investigators that his contact in the Revolutionary Guard tasked him with plotting the murder of two Jewish-Americans from New York and Israelis. Sri Lankan tourists.

The criminal complaint says Shakeri revealed details of the alleged plots in a series of taped phone interviews with FBI agents while in Iran.

The stated reason for his cooperation, he told investigators, was to try to secure a reduced prison sentence for an associate behind bars in the US.