An Iranian government plot to hire hitmen to assassinate Donald Trump was thwarted just a month before the election, chilling documents unsealed Friday reveal.
Three men, two who reside in New York, have been charged in the murder-for-hire scheme to take down the president-elect – who has survived two plots on his life in recent months – as revenge for the 2020 killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.
One of the would-be assassins, Farhad Shakeri, has been described by the FBI as an ‘asset’ of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and is now on the run in Tehran.
The trio – Shakeri, 51, Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathan Loadholt, 36, – are also accused of targeting an Iranian-American activist and were offered $500,000 to kill two Jewish businessmen living in the U.S.
Iran repeatedly assured the hitmen that they would spend as much money as possible to make sure the assassinations were carried out.
The IRGC tasked Shakeri 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.
The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges on a thwarted plot by Iran to kill President-elect Donald Trump before the election
Trump has been a target ever since Soleimani’s slaying, and during the campaign asked for military planes and larger Secret Service detail to protect him from Iranian threats.
In September he said he’d threaten to blow Iran ‘to smithereens’ if he was back in the White House and there were threats from Tehran.
Shakeri was ordered to assassinate Trump with just a month until millions of Americans went to the polls on November 5.
However, he told the FBI in recorded phone calls he didn’t plan to carry out the operation in the timeframe he was given.
Shakeri was then told to delay the plot, because Iran thought Trump would lose the election and it would then be easier to get to him without his full presidential-level Secret Service detail.
Shakeri was deported back to Iran in 2008 after serving a 14-year sentence for robbery in New York state prisons. He maintained an extensive prison contact base that he eventually tapped into while planning the murder-for-hire plots.
Pictures released by the Justice Department after the thwarted attempt on Trump’s life
Trump assassination attempt pictures released by the government
The disturbing documents unsealed by the Department of Justice Friday revealed the arsenal of weapons the assassins had at their disposal and the texts messages they sent each other to concoct their deadly plan.
The trio also shared frightening voice messages, urging patience and detailing how they would follow their targets.
Prosecutors laid out how Iran is using overseas agents to actively target Americans on U.S. soil for kidnapping and murder.
Their aim is to try and silence dissidents critical of the regime, as well as hit back at at Soleimani’s death.
Trump has been a target of Iran assassination threats since he ordered the strike that killed Soleimani, the leader of the brutal Iranian Quds Forces
Shakeri used a network of criminal associates he met in prison in the U.S. to ‘supply the IRGC with operatives to conduct surveillance and assassinations of IRGC targets.’
He was serving 14 years in a New York jail for robbery at the time.
Rivera and Loadholt were allegedly directed by Shakeri to surveil an unnamed U.S. citizen who is an ‘outspoken critic’ of the Iranian regime.
‘In exchange for Shakeri’s promise of $100,000, Rivera and Loadholt repeatedly sought to locate Victim-1 for murder,’ the complaint states.
Pictures released by the DOJ show the cache of weapons the suspected hitmen had at their disposal
Pictures released by DOJ about the thwarted assassination attempt
They traveled to Fairfield University in Connecticut, where the individual was set to appear earlier this year, and also stalked her home in Brooklyn
The IRGC were in constant contact with the suspects, and said that ‘money was not an object’ when it came to pursuing their targets.
They traveled to Fairfield University in Connecticut, where the individual was set to appear earlier this year, and also stalked her home in Brooklyn.
Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad said on Fox News Friday that she is the individual that was targeted for murder.
Shakeri told Rivera in a voice note when discussing the murder plot: ‘You just gotta have patience … You gotta wait and have patience to catch her either going in the house or coming out, or following her out somewhere and taking care of it. Don’t think about going in. In is a suicide move.’
Alinejad said she is ‘grateful’ to the FBI for informing her ahead of the Fairfield University event, which she skipped to ‘project the students.’
‘I don’t want to die. I want to be alive to see the end of this regime,’ Alinejad added.
Weeks before the election, the Trump campaign asked to use military planes and vehicles amid concerns that Iran was plotting to kill the former president.
Trump has survived two recent assassination attempts and his officials asked for a string of extra protections during the final month of campaigning, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Those include traveling on military jets, extra flight restrictions over his residences and events, and prepositioning ballistic glass in battleground states for open-air rallies.
The requests were unprecedented for a presidential nominee.
Three men who lived in New York have been charged in the murder-for-hire scheme to take down the former president – who has already survived two attempts on his life – as revenge for the killing of Qassem Soleimani
Trump rises from the stage with his fist in the air after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July
In September, the Trump campaign revealed it had been briefed on the threat from Tehran.
‘Big threats on my life by Iran,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. ‘The entire US military is watching and waiting.
‘Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but they will try again.’
Since then, a Pakistani national has been charged in connection with a ‘murder-for-hire’ plot to assassinate a politician or government official.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said it was ‘straight out of the Iranian regime’s playbook.’
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that there are ‘few actors’ in the world that ‘pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran.’
Trump celebrates his election victory on Wednesday morning with wife Melania and 18-year-old son Barron
‘The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct 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 U.S. soil, an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of the regime. We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security.’
‘The charges announced today expose Iran’s continued brazen attempts to target U.S. citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran,’ said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
‘The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a designated foreign terrorist organization — has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on U.S. soil and that simply won’t be tolerated.
‘Thanks to the hard work of the FBI, their deadly schemes were disrupted. We’re committed to using the full resources of the FBI to protect our citizens from Iran or any other adversary who targets Americans.’
‘Actors directed by the Government of Iran continue to target our citizens, including President-elect Trump, on U.S. soil and abroad. This has to stop,’ said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York.
‘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.
‘I want to thank the career prosecutors of this office and our law enforcement partners for their ongoing work in this and related investigations. They are truly the best of the best and work tirelessly to keep our country safe.’
