FBI Stopped Iranian Plot To Assassinate Trump

The U.S. Justice Department has unsealed criminal charges against three men involved in an assassination plot orchestrated by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The plot targeted President-elect Donald Trump and other U.S. government officials, dissidents, and critics of the Iranian regime. Authorities arrested two men, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathon Loadholt, in New York, while a third man, Farhad Shakeri, remains at large and is believed to be in Iran. Shakeri was instructed by an IRGC official to create a plan to kill Trump in September, but was unable to do so by then. The official believed Trump would lose the presidential election and it would be easier to assassinate him afterward. Shakeri then began building a network of accomplices, offering $100,000 to locate and kill Trump and other individuals of U.S. and Israeli origin. The plot reflects ongoing efforts by Iran to target U.S. government officials on U.S. soil, including assault, kidnapping, and murder. The charges expose Iran's continued attempts to target U.S. citizens, including government leaders and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran.