3 charged in Iran-linked murder plots, with one targeting Donald Trump as revenge for killing Qassem Soleimani: DOJ

Three people have been charged in a series of alleged Iran-linked murder plots, with one of them accused of trying to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump, and others targeting an Iranian-American activist and two Jewish Americans living in New York, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday in New York.

Farhad Shakeri, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt are charged with murder-for-hire, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Rivera and Loadholt have been arrested, while Shakeri, who the FBI described as an "asset" of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is believed to be in Tehran.

The IRGC tasked Shakeri with surveilling and killing Trump to avenge the death of Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran's elite Quds Force, in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020, according to the complaint.

"There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran. 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 J. Trump," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the charges.

Shakeri emigrated to the United States but was deported in 2008 after serving prison time for robbery, according to the Justice Department. While in prison, he met Rivera and Loadholt and hired them to target an Iranian American activist living in Brooklyn, according to the complaint.

While she is not named in the complaint, the activist matches the description of Masih Alinejad, a prolific journalist and human rights activist who has been critical of the Iranian government and targeted in multiple plots. Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges last month against IRGC Brig. Gen. Ruhollah Bazghandi in connection with an alleged murder plot against Alinejad.

Alinejad later posted on social media that she was one of the targets, writing, "I am shocked. I just learned from the @FBI that two men were arrested yesterday in a new plot to kill me at Fairfield University, where I was scheduled to give a talk."

The IRGC also tasked Shakeri with carrying out other assassinations against U.S. and Israeli citizens located in the United States, including Trump, the complaint alleges.

In mid- to late-September, Shakeri told the FBI that the IRGC official instructed him "to put aside his other efforts" and "focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating former President of the United States Donald J. Trump," the complaint said. When Shakeri told his handler it would cost a lot of money, the IRGC official is quoted as responding "we have already spent a lot of money ... so the money's not an issue."

Shakeri told the FBI that during an Oct. 7 meeting with his IRGC handler he was asked to provide a plan within seven days to kill Trump. If it could not be done in that timeframe, the IRGC would pause its plan to kill Trump until after the election "because IRGC Official-1 assessed that [Trump] would lose the election and, afterward, it would easier to assassinate [Trump]," the complaint said.

He also stated he was tasked with surveilling two Jewish-American citizens residing in New York City and was offered $500,000 by an IRGC official for the murder of either victim, according to the complaint. He was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka, the complaint said.

"Actors directed by the Government of Iran continue to target our citizens, including President-elect Trump, on U.S. soil and abroad. This has to stop," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "Today's charges are another message to those who continue in their efforts -- we will remain unrelenting in our pursuit of bad actors, no matter where they reside, and will stop at nothing to bring to justice those who harm our safety and security."