Iranian operative charged in pre-election scheme to assassinate Trump, other U.S. targets

An operative working for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told federal investigators that he was tasked in September with “surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating” President-elect Donald Trump, according to court records unsealed Friday. 

Prosecutors say Farhad Shakeri, who is believed to be residing in Iran, told investigators in a phone interview that unnamed IRGC officials pushed him to plan an attack against Mr. Trump last month. If the plan could not come together in time, the Iranian officials directed Shakeri to delay the plot until after the presidential election because the official “assessed that [Mr. Trump] would lose the election,” charging documents revealed. 

Shakeri and two individuals living in the U.S. — Carlisle Rivera of Brooklyn, New York; and Jonathon Loadholt of Staten Island — were charged as part of a broad Iran-backed scheme to allegedly surveille and ultimately assassinate individuals inside the U.S. who opposed the Iranian regime. 

FBI investigators wrote that Shakeri immigrated to the U.S. as a child from Iran, but was deported in 2008 after serving more than a decade in prison on robbery charges. They alleged the IRGC ultimately used Shakeri to recruit criminal contacts inside the U.S. to carry out specific operations like targeting an unnamed Iranian American journalist and activist living in New York. 

In February, prosecutors alleged Shakeri paid Rivera and Loadholt about $1,000 to monitor the activist — who has spoken out against Iran’s regime — at an event at Fairfield University in Connecticut. The surveillance operations continued into March, according to court documents, when the pair allegedly traveled multiple times to the activist’s Brooklyn home. Text messages, security camera footage and cell site location data revealed their numerous trips. 

“On or about April 1, 2024, 9 SHAKERI and RIVERA exchanged voice notes discussing RIVERA and LOADHOLT’ s efforts to locate and murder” the Iranian American, court records said. 

“This b**** is hard to catch, bro,” Rivera allegedly said to Shakeri. “There ain’t gonna be no simple pull up, unless there[‘s] the luck of the draw.” 

According to court records, Shakeri allegedly responded later, “you just gotta have patience and don’t, kicking, kick in the door is not an option because that’s a fail, that’s a fail maneuver. 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.”

Investigators searched online accounts belonging to Rivera and Loadholt in the course of the federal probe and uncovered numerous images of firearms and other weapons. 

In April, Shakeri agreed to pay Rivera and Loadholt $100,000 to “finish the work” and said he was tasked by the IRGC to hire individuals to assassinate the journalist. And by July, according to charging documents, the Iranians were growing impatient, instructing their U.S. assets to “take care of it already.” 

The alleged plot to kill the activist did not succeed. 

Rivera and Loadholt are not accused of being part of the plot to target Mr. Trump. They made their initial appearance in federal court on Thursday and were ordered detained, according to the Justice Department. Shakeri remains at large. 

“We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. 

The charges announced Friday are not the first brought against alleged operatives of the IRGC for plotting to kill Mr. Trump. Earlier this year, the FBI arrested Asif Merchant for planning to assassinate U.S. government officials, including potentially the president-elect. Merchant remains in custody and pleaded not guilty. 

On at least five occasions between September and November, Shakeri participated in “voluntary telephonic interviews with FBI agents” in exchange for a sentence reduction for another individual serving time in the U.S, court records said. 

During the interviews, he allegedly told the FBI of the IRGC’s desire to kill the Iranian American activist and target Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka with a mass shooting event. Shakeri also told investigators that the IRGC tasked him with surveilling two Jewish American citizens living in New York, but he did not provide the Iranian officials with information about the unnamed targets. 

During the interview, Shakeri also allegedly told the FBI about the effort to target Mr. Trump. 

In a statement, FBI Director Christopher Wray said, “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.” 

The charges and allegations announced Friday are part of broader posture by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement to publicly bring attention to Iran’s alleged efforts to quiet dissidents on U.S. soil and target U.S. government figures after the killing of IRGC General Qasem Soleimani by American forces in 2020. Mr. Trump and former members of his administration have been forced in recent years to increase his security due to the threats. 

The Justice Department has charged numerous other defendants in recent years with acting on behalf of Iran by targeting outspoken dissidents living in the U.S.

Attorneys for Rivera and Loadholt were not immediately identified.