The Department of Justice claims to have foiled a Iranian conspiracy killing President-elect Donald Trump in the weeks leading up to the election.

A criminal complaint filed in New York federal court says an anonymous official with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps asked Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, in September to “focus on surveillance and, ultimately, the assassination of the former President of the United States.” States, Donald J. Trump.”

“There are few actors in the world that pose as serious a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. said in a statement. “The Justice Department has indicted an Iranian regime agent who was tasked by the regime with leading a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump .

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“We have also charged and arrested two individuals who we believe were recruited as part of this network aimed at silencing and killing, on American soil, an American journalist who was a prominent critic of the regime ” Garland added. “We will not tolerate attempts by the Iranian regime to endanger the American people and American national security.”

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The Justice Department says Shakeri, who remains at large and is believed to be living in Iran, “immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported around 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a theft conviction qualified”.

President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak at an election night event in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Shakeri informed law enforcement that he was tasked on October 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump,” the statement added.

Trump was referred to in court filings as “Victim-4.”

“According to Shakeri, during his meeting with IRGC Official I on or about October 7, 2024, IRGC Official I ordered Shakeri to provide a plan within seven days to kill Victim 4. If Shakeri was incapacitated to present a plan within seven days. During this period, IRGC Official I continued, the IRGC would suspend its plan to kill Victim-4 until after the US presidential elections, because IRGC Official I believed that Victim-4 would lose the election and, subsequently, it would be easier to assassinate Victim-4,” the documents state.

“(Shakeri) also said he was assigned to monitor two Jewish American citizens residing in New York and offered $500,000 by an IRGC official for the murder of either victim. He said was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka,” the Justice Department said. added.

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The late commander of Iran’s Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, center, attends Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s meeting with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran, Iran, in September 2016. The Department of Justice said Friday that “according to the complaint and other public statements and documents, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is actively targeting nationals of the United States and its allies living in countries around the world for carrying out attacks, including assaults, kidnappings and murders, both to repress and silence dissidents critical of the Iranian regime and to exact revenge for the January 2020 death of Qasem Soleimani, then commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad. (Press Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Federal prosecutors also charged and arrested Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn, New York; and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, New York, “in connection with their alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate a United States citizen of Iranian origin in New York.”

A law enforcement source briefed on the investigation told Fox News that the Iranian-American was Masih Alinejad.

“At the direction of Shakeri, Loadholt and Rivera spent months monitoring an American citizen of Iranian origin residing in the United States (Victim-1). Victim-1 is an open critic of the Iranian regime and has been the target of several conspiracies prior kidnapping and/or murder directed by the Iranian government,” the Justice Department said. “In exchange for Shakeri’s promise of $100,000, Rivera and Loadholt repeatedly sought to locate Victim 1 for murder.”

Prosecutors say that during their efforts to locate and kill Alinejad, “Shakeri, Loadholt and Rivera shared messages about their progress and photographs relating to their scheme.

“For example, around February 2024, Rivera and Loadholt sent a message regarding an incoming payment from Shakeri, then drove to Fairfield University, where Victim 1 was scheduled to appear, and took photos on campus,” according to the Department of Justice. “In a voice note, Shakeri told Rivera that Victim-1 spent most of his time in particular areas of his house, and told Rivera that ‘you just have to have patience… You have to wait and have patience to catch her either entering the house or leaving, or following her somewhere and taking care of her. It’s a suicidal move.

All three suspects now face charges of murder for hire, conspiracy to commit murder for hire and money laundering conspiracy, carrying maximum sentences of 10 to 20 years in prison.

The alleged Iranian plot targeted President-elect Donald Trump in the weeks leading up to the presidential election. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Shakeri was also charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers and Sanctions Act. Iranian government, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to the prosecution.