WASHINGTON: The United States has charged an Iranian man in connection with an alleged plot ordered by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump, the Justice Department said on Friday.

In a statement, the department said that Farhad Shakeri had informed law enforcement "that he was tasked on October 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill" Trump, the department said. Shakeri allegedly told law enforcement he had no plans to formulate a plan to kill Trump within the IRGC's timeline.

The department described Shakeri, 51, as an IRGC asset residing in Tehran. It said he immigrated to the US as a child and was deported in or about 2008 following a robbery conviction. Shakeri is at large and believed to be in Iran, the prosecutors said.

Two New York residents whom Shakeri had met in prison, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt, have also been charged for helping Shakeri plot to kill a US citizen of Iranian origin in New York, described as an outspoken critic of Iran's government who had previously been targeted for murder.

Prosecutors did not identify the target, but it matched the description of Masih Alinejad, a journalist and activist who has criticised Iran's head-covering laws for women.

Four Iranians were charged in 2021 in connection with a plot to kidnap her, and in 2022 a man was arrested with a rifle outside her home. Rivera and Loadholt have both been ordered detained pending trial. Their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 09 2024

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