Iranian operative charged in pre-election scheme to assassinate Trump, other U.S. targets

An operative working for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told federal investigators that he was tasked in September with "surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating" President-elect Donald Trump, according to court records unsealed Friday. 

Prosecutors say Farhad Shakeri, who is believed to be residing in Iran, told investigators in a phone interview that unnamed IRGC officials pushed him to plan an attack against Mr. Trump last month. If the plan could not come together in time, the Iranian officials directed Shakeri to delay the plot until after the presidential election because the official "assessed that [Mr. Trump] would lose the election," charging documents revealed. 

Shakeri and two individuals living in the U.S. — Carlisle Rivera of Brooklyn, New York; and Jonathon Loadholt of Staten Island — were charged as part of a broad Iran-backed scheme to allegedly surveille and ultimately assassinate individuals inside the U.S. who opposed the Iranian regime.