Man charged in Iranian conspiracy to kill Donald Trump: Justice Department
Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify one defendant was charged with trying to kill Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON – Three men were charged Friday in a murder-for-hire plot, including one accused of trying to kill President-elect Donald Trump in revenge for the death of a top Iranian military commander, the Justice Department announced Friday.
Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran; and Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of New York were named in the indictment.
Rivera and Loadholt were each arrested Thursday in New York and were ordered held pending trial during an initial court appearance. Shakeri, who is charged with trying to kill Trump, remains at large and is believed to be in Iran.
The charges allege Iran has been targeting U.S. citizens to take vengeance for the January 2020 death of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was killed by a drone strike in Baghdad on Trump's orders.
Shakeri informed law enforcement agents in recorded conversations that he was tasked on Oct. 7 with "providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump," according to a department statement. Shakeri claimed he did not intend to propose a plan to kill Trump within the timeframe set by Iran. But he said he was also tasked with surveilling two Jewish American citizens residing in New York City and offered $500,000 by an Iranian official for the murder of either victim, the department said.
“President Trump thanks the brave men and women of law enforcement for foiling this terrible plot by the terror regime in Iran," said Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesperson. "Swift and decisive action of our authorities is vital to deter future nefarious attempts to harm our country."
The three defendants were each charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a 10-year maximum sentence; conspiracy to commit murder, which carries a 10-year sentence, and money-laundering conspiracy, which carries a 20-year sentence.
Iran has targeted Trump personally with assassination plots and his campaign through hacking attempts as it sought to disrupt the 2024 presidential race, officials say.
“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “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.”
Shakeri is an Iranian Republican Guard asset who lives in Tehran, Iran, according to prosecutors. Shakeri had immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported in about 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction.
In recent months, Shakeri has used a network of criminal associates he met in prison to supply the Iranian Republican Guard with operatives to conduct surveillance and assassinations. Two members of Shakeri’s alleged network are his co-defendants, Loadholt and Rivera.
The two men charged in New York also allegedly were recruited to kill an American journalist, Masih Alinejad, a journalist and activist who has criticized 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.
Alinejad said Friday she was “shocked” to learn from the FBI about the plot to kill her during a talk at Fairfield University and she thanked law enforcement for protecting her. The alleged killers were in front of her house in Brooklyn, according to the indictment.
“I came to America to practice my First Amendment right to freedom of speech – I don’t want to die,” Alinejad said in a post on social media. “I want to fight against tyranny, and I deserve to be safe.”