Three men have been charged in connection with an alleged Iranian plot to kill people in the United States that included an apparent effort to assassinate Donald Trump while he campaigned for a second term in office. According to U.S. department of Justice: “Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran; Carlisle Rivera, also known as Pop, 49, of Brooklyn, New York; and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, New York, were charged today in a criminal complaint in connection with their alleged involvement in a plot to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York. “Rivera was arrested in Brooklyn, New York, and Loadholt was arrested in Staten Island, New York, yesterday. Shakeri remains at large and is believed to reside in Iran. Rivera and Loadholt made their initial appearance in the Southern District of New York yesterday and were ordered detained pending trial.” US prosecutors announced charges on Friday, stating that the foiled assassination plot on Trump was allegedly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to avenge the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in 2020 in a US strike ordered by then-president Trump, the Justice Department said. Shakeri was “tasked” by the IRGC with providing a plan to kill Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s US presidential election, the department said in a statement. Shakeri and two other men, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathon Loadholt, both of New York, were charged separately with plotting to kill an Iranian-American dissident in New York. Rivera and Loadholt are both in US custody and made a court appearance in New York on Thursday. “The charges announced today expose Iran’s continued brazen attempts to target US citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders and dissidents who criticise the regime in Tehran,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said. Trump faced two other separate assassination attempts this year, including a shooting at a campaign rally when a bullet grazed his ear. On Friday, the Justice Department described Shakeri as an “IRGC asset residing in Tehran.” It said he immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported around 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for robbery. “In recent months, Shakeri has used a network of criminal associates he met in prison in the United States to supply the IRGC with operatives to conduct surveillance and assassinations of IRGC targets,” the Justice Department said. It said Loadholt and Rivera, at Shakeri’s direction, spent months conducting surveillance on a US citizen of Iranian origin who is an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime and has been the target of multiple prior kidnapping and murder plots. “Shakeri, Rivera, and Loadholt have all been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.” The US Department of Justice stated. Shakeri has also been charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and sanctions against the Government of Iran, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Adding that: “If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.”
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