US announces charges in alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Trump

U.S. prosecutors announced charges on Friday in an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate former president Donald Trump and a prominent dissident Iranian-American journalist.

The foiled assassination plot against 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 U.S. strike ordered by then-president Trump, the Justice Department said.

Farhad Shakeri, 51, an Afghan national believed to be in Iran, was "tasked" by the IRGC with providing a plan to kill Trump, the department stated.

Shakeri and two other men, Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, both of New York, were charged separately with plotting to kill an Iranian-American dissident in New York.

Rivera and Loadholt are both in U.S. custody and made a court appearance in New York on Thursday.

"The charges announced today expose Iran's continued brazen attempts to target U.S. citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders, and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran," FBI Director Christopher Wray said.

Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday's U.S. presidential election, faced two other separate assassination attempts this year, including a shooting at a campaign rally when a bullet grazed his ear.

Iran's foreign ministry on Saturday called the allegations that Tehran was behind a plot against Trump "totally unfounded."

The foreign ministry "rejects allegations that Iran is implicated in an assassination attempt targeting former or current American officials," spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement.

'Network of criminal associates' 

The U.S. Justice...