Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday swiftly denied U.S. accusations that it was behind a plot to assassinate former U.S. President Donald Trump, labeling the charges as “totally unfounded.”
The statement came in response to revelations from U.S. prosecutors, who on Friday announced charges in connection with an alleged Iranian plot to kill Trump and a prominent Iranian-American dissident.
In the wake of the Justice Department’s announcement, which included the unsealing of charges against multiple suspects, Iran’s foreign ministry issued a strong rebuttal. Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the country “rejects allegations that Iran is implicated in an assassination attempt targeting former or current American officials.”
The charges are linked to an operation allegedly orchestrated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as part of an apparent revenge mission for the 2020 killing of General Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. airstrike authorized by Trump.
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According to U.S. authorities, the IRGC had tasked 51-year-old Afghan national Farhad Shakeri to develop a plan to assassinate Trump. The plot was reportedly foiled in its early stages.
Shakeri, currently believed to be in Iran, was accused of collaborating with two other men—Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, both from New York—who were charged separately for allegedly plotting to kill an Iranian-American dissident in New York. Rivera and Loadholt were taken into U.S. custody and appeared in court earlier this week.
FBI Director Christopher Wray condemned the charges, calling them “brazen attempts” by Iran to target U.S. citizens, including government officials and dissidents critical of Tehran’s regime. Wray emphasized that the plot against Trump was part of a broader pattern of Iranian hostility toward the U.S.
The U.S. government has previously accused Iran of plotting to kill American officials in retaliation for Soleimani’s death. In related developments, the State Department had earlier announced a $20 million reward for information leading to the capture of a suspected Iranian mastermind behind a plot to assassinate former White House official John Bolton.
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According to U.S. court documents, Shakeri had been in communication with FBI agents in recent months about the assassination plot in exchange for potential sentence reductions for another individual imprisoned in the U.S.
Shakeri reportedly discussed the details of the Trump assassination plan with an IRGC official in September, stating that executing such an operation would cost a “huge” sum of money. The official allegedly responded: “Money’s not an issue.”
Further allegations suggest that Shakeri was tasked with devising the assassination plan in a rushed timeframe. The IRGC reportedly assessed that it would be easier to kill Trump if he lost the election, following which they would target him after the vote.
