New details emerge in alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump

Stunning new details have been released after three men were charged over a foiled plot by the Iran regime to kill Donald Trump before the election.

Iran’s armed forces directed an operative to surveil and assassinate Donald Trump, telling him that “money’s not an issue” as they raced to take out the former president before the US election.

In a stunning indictment unsealed three days after Mr Trump reclaimed power, the US Department of Justice alleged Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Corps ordered Farhad Shakeri to carry out the hit in September.

When Shakeri said the plan would cost a “huge” amount of money”, an IRGC official replied: “We have already spent a lot of money … Money’s not an issue.”

According to the indictment, Shakeri told the FBI that a month before the presidential election, he was then directed to provide a plan to kill Mr Trump within seven days.

The US Department of Justice alleged Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Corps ordered Farhad Shakeri to carry out the hit in September on Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

The IRGC official said that if this could not be completed, Iran would “pause its plan” until after the election, believing that the Republican would lose to Vice President Kamala Harris and that “it would be easier to assassinate him” after the election.

Shakeri, 51, remains at large in Iran. Two men from New York – who he had met while previously in jail in the US – were arrested and charged over another murder-for-hire plot against a Brooklyn-based human rights activist who had criticised Iran’s repression of women.

“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.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a designated foreign terrorist organisation — has been conspiring with criminals and hit men to target and gun down Americans on US soil and that simply won’t be tolerated.”

According to the indictment, Shakeri told the FBI that a month before the presidential election, he was then directed to provide a plan to kill Mr Trump within seven days. Picture: AFP

Attorney-General Merrick Garland said there were “few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran”.

“We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security,” he said.

During the campaign, Mr Trump was shot in the ear at a campaign rally in July, while another assassination attempt while he was playing golf in September was narrowly averted. US intelligence agencies did not connect either of those plots to Iran.

The President-elect is now preparing to drastically increase sanctions on Iran and throttle its oil sales when he comes to power, in a bid to stop its attacks on Israel and weaken its nuclear program.

Former US President Donald Trump was rushed off stage by secret service after an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in July. Picture: David Maxwell

Brian Hook, who was in charge of Iran policy in the State Department during Mr Trump’s first term, told CNN he would “isolate Iran diplomatically and weaken them economically so they can’t fund all of the violence” through proxies including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen.

It came as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said of Mr Trump’s return to power: “To us, it does not matter at all who has won the American election, because our country and system relies on its inner strength.”

Originally published as New details emerge in alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump