The US Department of Justice has indicted an Iranian national on charges of attempting to assassinate US President-elect Donald Trump. It has been reported that the Iranian named Farhad Shakeri attempted to kill on the orders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The British news agency Reuters reported this news in a report.
In a statement, the US Department of Justice said that Farhad Shakeri told law enforcement that he was tasked with killing Trump on October 7. However, he claimed to law enforcement that he had no plans to kill Trump within the time limit set by the IRGC.
The US Department of Justice said Shakeri, 51, was an IRGC agent. He immigrated to the United States as a child. He was later sent back to the country in 2008 after spending 14 years in prison in a robbery case. Lawyers said Shakeri is currently on the run in Iran.
According to prosecutors, Iran's Revolutionary Guard officials dropped the plan after failing to come up with a plan to kill Trump within the specified time frame. The Iranian government later told Shakeri that it would be easier to try to kill Trump after the election, because they believed Trump would lose the vote.
Earlier, while in prison, Shakeri met two New York residents, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Lordholt. They are accused of attempting to kill an Iranian-born US citizen who is a critic of Tehran.
However, the prosecutors could not identify Shakeri and the person whom the two wanted to kill. The person is believed to be journalist and rights activist Masih Alinejad. She has been a vocal critic of Iran's repressive and compulsory hijab laws. Four Iranians were indicted in 2021 for attempting to kidnap him. A man with a rifle was arrested in front of his house in 2022.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ismail Bagai, in a statement given to the Iranian media on Saturday, called this allegation a 'heinous conspiracy'. He said, 'This is an attempt by Israel and anti-Iranian groups to further complicate US-Iranian relations.'
