Iran rejects assassination attempt claims after plot against Donald Trump thwarted by FBI
by Danielle de Wolfe · LBCBy Danielle de Wolfe
Iran has rejected claims it was behind an alleged plot to assassinate president elect Donald Trump after the US Justice Department charged a man in connection with the plan.
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According to FBI documents, an unnamed Iranian official instructed a US contact to plan the killing of Mr Trump in September.
The US Justice Department has now brought criminal charges against three people allegedly involved in the attempt.
However, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, has said the accusations are "totally unfounded".
He added that similar accusations surrounding assassinate attempts of US presidents had been made in the past - which Iran denied and turned out to be false.
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.
The plot was ultimately thwarted by the FBI.
It comes as Former British Ambassador to Iran, Sir Richard Dalton, told LBC the evidence provided by the FBI in relation to the claims was "flimsy" at best.
Ex-Ambassador to Iran casts doubt on Trump assassination plot
"The key person, Mr (Farhad) Shakeri, was let go by the American authorities. And why would they do that if this was such a serious matter?
"Secondly, the US government has a very strong interest and a strong history in dishing dirt on Iran whether it's true or not.
"And thirdly," hthe corruption of US discourse on the Middle East standing truths, justice and law on its head in order to support Israel, has become so extreme that it's legitimate to distrust pronouncements of this kind, until they are proved in a court of law."
In a statement, Mr Baghaei added that the claims risked "further complicating the issues between the US and Iran".
It comes as the FBI released images of firearm pictures that it says were found on the cloud accounts of the three men charged over an alleged plot to kill a US citizen of Iranian origin.
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," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the charges.
"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."
Following the claims, Iran's Foreign Ministry said it "rejects allegations that Iran is implicated in an assassination attempt targeting former or current American officials."
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.