The Department of Justice announced on Friday that three men have been charged in an alleged murder-for-hire plot to kill individuals critical of the Iranian regime, including President-elect Donald Trump.
Two of the men charged, Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, were arrested in New York on Thursday, the DOJ said.
The other individual, Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan national, is believed to be in Iran.
Attorney General Merrick Garland alleges Shakeri is an "asset of the Iranian regime" and was tasked with directing "criminal associates" to carry out the assassination plots.
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The DOJ says Shakeri moved to the U.S. as a child but was deported in 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for robbery. The DOJ says Shakeri created a criminal network that included Rivera and Loadholt, whom he met in prison.
The pair were reportedly promised $100,000 to carry out the murder-for-hire plot. Rivera and Loadholt, who are both from New York, spent months surveilling a critic of Iran in the U.S. the DOJ says.
Authorities said the men were arrested before the murder-for-hire plot could be carried out.
“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," said FBI Director Christopher Wray. "Thanks to the hard work of the FBI, their deadly schemes were disrupted."
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The DOJ says law enforcement agents recorded interviews with Shakeri, who claimed he was also tasked in October with creating plans to assassinate Trump. However, Shakeri claimed he did not intend to propose a plan in the timeframe set by the IRGC.
Trump has faced two assassination attempts this year. Neither of those attempts has been linked to Iran.
