By: Staff Writer
November 10, Colombo (LNW): The U.S. Department of Justice recently unveiled new charges against Farhad Shakeri, an Iranian national accused of being involved in a series of assassination plots orchestrated by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Shakeri.
He, currently believed to be in Iran, has allegedly received orders to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and target Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. The charges were announced on Friday, detailing the extent of Shakeri’s involvement in these terror plots.
According to court documents, Shakeri, 51, was recruited by the Iranian government in September 2024 to carry out the assassination of Donald Trump.
Prosecutors claim that the IRGC initially tasked him with surveillance of several U.S. and Israeli targets within the U.S. However, on October 7, the IRGC focused Shakeri’s mission exclusively on Trump, giving him a mere seven days to devise an assassination plan.
When Shakeri indicated that he could not complete the task in time, IRGC officials reportedly agreed to postpone the operation until after the U.S. election, anticipating Trump’s loss.
Shakeri, an Afghan-born national residing in Tehran, has a criminal background, having immigrated to the U.S. as a child before being deported in 2008 after serving 14 years for a robbery conviction.
In recent years, he has been involved with criminal networks that support the IRGC, reportedly assisting in surveillance and assassination operations targeting individuals of interest.
In addition to the plot against Trump, Shakeri was also tasked with surveilling two Jewish businesspeople in New York City.
He reportedly worked alongside two other individuals—Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt, both U.S. citizens—who were arrested for helping the Iranian government track a U.S. citizen of Iranian descent.
The two men were charged and detained in New York, where they made their initial court appearance on Thursday.
Another significant component of the plot involves a planned attack on Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. Shakeri revealed to investigators that the IRGC directed him to plan a mass shooting targeting Israeli travelers in the Arugam Bay area of Sri Lanka in October 2024.
U.S. and Israeli authorities issued public warnings about this threat, and Sri Lankan authorities arrested several individuals linked to the plot. According to Shakeri, one of these individuals, referred to as “CC-2,” had previously surveilled the Israeli consulate in Sri Lanka and was involved in the attack planning.
The U.S. Justice Department charged Shakeri with several offenses, including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which could lead to up to 20 years in prison. He also faces charges related to sanctions violations and providing support to a designated terrorist group.
Iran has strongly denied the allegations, calling the charges “baseless” and claiming that such accusations are part of a broader “malicious conspiracy” designed to worsen tensions between the U.S. and Iran. The Iranian government has made similar denials in the past in response to accusations of state-sponsored terrorism.
