Two hitmen have been arrested and charged in connection with a thwarted Iran-backed plot to kill Donald Trump.
The alleged assassination bid was placed in the hands of a gun for hire in late September, with plans to take out the president-elect before the November 5 election.
Shocking details of the sick plot were revealed on Friday after the FBI announced the arrests and noted that a third hitman is still on the loose.
An unnamed official with Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard contacted one man, identified as Farhad Shakeri, in December 2023 and first instructed him to put together a plan to assassinate a US citizen, federal officials said.
The target, identified as Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist who lives in Brooklyn and had repeatedly been outspoken about the regime.
Shakeri, a career criminal who previously served 14 years in a US prison for a robbery conviction, allegedly used his criminal network to tap two New York City residents to conduct surveillance and assassination operations on behalf of the Iranian government.
Between February and April, Shakeri exchanged a series of voice messages with his co-defendants, Carlisle Rivera of Brooklyn and Jonathan Loadholt of Staten Island, discussing Alinejad’s whereabouts, routine, and how the victim spent most of her time at home.
Shakeri, 51, instructed Rivera and Loadholt, 36, to sit tight and wait for their opportunity to take out the victim.
“You just gotta have patience,” Shakeri told Rivera, 49, in one of the voice messages, according to the DOJ.
“You gotta wait and have patience to catch her either going in the house or coming out, or following her out somewhere and taking care of it.
“Don’t think about going in. In is a suicide move.”
However, in mid to late September, Shakeri was ordered to drop all his plans and establish a plot to survey and ultimately assassinate Donald Trump.
‘Money’s Not an Issue’
Shakeri told the Iranian official that the new request would “cost a huge amount of money.”
The unnamed Iranian paramilitary official responded, “We have already spent a lot of money… [s]o the money’s not an issue,” according to the indictment.
If Shakeri was unable to create a meticulous plan, they would pause the plan until after November 5, when Iranian officials believed “Trump would lose and it would easier to assassinate him,” according to the criminal complaint.
Shakeri met with the military official on October 7 – the first anniversary of the Hamas terror attack on Israel – where they instructed him to present an assassination attempt within seven days.
However, Shakeri claimed to the FBI that he did not intend to propose a plan to kill Trump within the timeframe set by the Iranian government, the DOJ said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland called Iran a “grave threat to the national security of the United States.”
“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,” Garland said.
“We have also charged and arrested two individuals who were allege were recruited as part of that network to silence and kill, on US Sol, an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of the regime.
“We will not stand or the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security.”
‘Big Threats’
On September 25, Trump disclosed in an X post that he had been briefed about a plan by Iran to assassinate him.
“Big threats on my life by Iran. The entire U.S. Military is watching and waiting,” Trump wrote.
“Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but they will try again. Not a good situation for anyone.
“I am surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever seen before.”
It’s unclear if Trump’s September 25 assassination briefing is connected to Shakeri’s plot.
Shakeri told federal investigators that he was also tasked with surveilling two Jewish American citizens residing in New York City and was offered $500,000 for the murder of either victim.
Rivera, Loadholt, and Shakeri were charged with murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and money laundering conspiracy.
Loadholt and Rivera were arrested on Thursday and denied bail.
Shakeri, who is still at large and believed to reside in Iran, was also charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
