US charges man allegedly tasked by Iran to plot Trump killing pre-election
Al Jazeera
Farhad Shakeri was tapped to plan assassination of former president, DOJ alleges, although he never followed through.
The United States Department of Justice has unsealed criminal charges against a man allegedly tasked by Iran with “surveilling and plotting to assassinate” Donald Trump before the presidential election.
The criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan on Friday said an agent with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had instructed an Afghan citizen, Farhad Shakeri, to come up with the plan in October.
However, Shakeri told investigators he did not intend to provide a plan in the timeline requested: Before the election on November 5.
In a statement, Attorney-General Merrick Garland said 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 Trump”.
He added, “There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran.”
