Iranian assassination attempt against Donald Trump thwarted by FBI
by Henry Moore · LBCBy Henry Moore
The US Justice Department has brought criminal charges against three people who allegedly plotted an Iranian assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The charges following a failed Iranian murder-for-hire attempt against Donald Trump ahead of this week's election.
According to FBI documents, an unnamed Iranian official instructed a US contact to plan the killing of Mr Trump in September.
The plot was ultimately thwarted by the FBI.
The three named in the charges, Farhad Shakeri, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt were reportedly told to pause plans to kill Mr Trump if a concrete plot could not be agreed before the election.
Shakeri was tasked with following and killing Mr Trump to avenge the death of Qassem Soleimani by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Shakeri reportedly told the FBI he had no plans to kill Donald Trump in the seven-day period the Iranian official had requested.
"There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran. 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," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the charges.
This marks just the latest plot in what the US government has described as ongoing effort by Iran to target American officials.
Donald Trump was subject to several assassination attempts in the run up to this week's election.
Back in July, Trump survived after a bullet grazed his ear at a campaign rally.
Speaking after his election win, he told a crowd of supporters at West Palm Beach in Florida that his life was saved ‘for a reason’.
He told fans that he will bring "every ounce of spirit and fight" to the White House, and that being president is the "most important job in the world".
He said the US presidency is "the most important job in the world" as he claimed victory at a rally in Florida.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, killed a Trump supporter and wounded two others when he opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally in July.
He grazed the ear of the former president before being shot dead by the Secret Service.
According to the head of the FBI field office in Pittsburgh, Kevin Rojek, Crooks “engaged in detailed attack planning” after becoming “hyper-focused” on the Butler rally.
Later, would-be assassin Ryan Routh camped out at a Trump golf course hoping to kill the president-elect.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested by police in connection with the shooting and has been charged with planning to murder Mr Trump.
Routh, a self-employed affordable housing builder in Hawaii and registered Democrat, was arrested shortly after close to Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida.