This is a newly revealed assassination plot against Mr. Trump, following two previous assassination plots. Mr. Trump was assassinated while campaigning in Pennsylvania on July 13. Two months later, another assassination plot against Mr. Trump was thwarted at a golf course in Florida.
According to court documents, Farhad Shakeri, 51, was asked in September to focus on monitoring and eventually assassinating Mr. Trump. Farhad Shakeri is an Afghan citizen residing in Tehran, Iran. The US Justice Department said Shakeri is still hiding in Iran.
US prosecutors allege that Shakeri was initially tasked by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with carrying out other assassinations targeting US and Israeli citizens inside the US. However, on October 7, IRGC officials told Shakeri to focus solely on Mr. Trump and gave him seven days to plan the assassination.
According to CNN, Shakeri had recorded conversations with US law enforcement, telling investigators that if he could not plan the assassination within the required time frame, the IRGC would wait until after the US presidential election to assassinate Mr. Trump because he believed the Republican candidate would lose.
In addition to Shakeri, two other individuals were charged on November 8, including Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt, both U.S. citizens who were arrested in New York and accused of helping the Iranian government spy on another Iranian-American citizen. The U.S. Justice Department said the two individuals made their first court appearances on November 7 and are being held pending trial.
Iran has "completely rejected" the US Justice Department's allegations. Iran's Foreign Ministry on November 9 described the allegations as "completely baseless and rejected". Tehran stressed that "similar allegations have been made" and Iran has "firmly denied and proven to be false".
