Who is Farhad Shakeri, the Afghan national behind Iran's plot to assassinate Donald Trump?

An Afghan national is at the centre of a shocking assassination conspiracy targeting US President-elect Donald Trump.

Farhad Shakeri has been accused of planning a murder-for-hire plot on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Two other people, Jonathan Loadholt and Carlisle Rivera, were arrested in New York and charged on Friday.

The two American citizens are charged with aiding the Iranian government in the surveillance of another Iranian-American US citizen.

Here’s all we know about him.

Who is Farhad Shakeri?

Shakeri, 51, is an Afghan national residing in Tehran.

Having immigrated to the US as a child, Shakeri became involved in criminal activity early in his life.

He was found guilty of robbery in 1994 and spent 14 years in state prisons in New York.

In 2005, Shakeri was transferred to a Beacon facility, where he allegedly met Carlisle Rivera.

According to documents from the New York Department of Corrections, his parole supervision expired in 2015.

He stayed in the United States until his deportation in 2008.

However, as stated in the indictment, Shakeri was arrested in Sri Lanka in 2019 to the seizure of 92 kilogrammes of heroin.

While imprisoned, Shakeri’s ties to the Iran Revolutionary Guards grew deeper.

In Afghanistan currently, it is believed that he continues to be involved with the Iranian government.

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How is he involved in the assassination attempt?

According to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court in September 2024, Shakeri was reportedly assigned by the Iranian leadership to spy on and eventually assassinate Donald Trump.

A series of secret meetings were held to discuss the plot.

The operative stated that executing the plan would be costly, as per court filings.

“We have already spent a lot of money,” one IRGC officer allegedly said, adding, “Money’s not an issue.”

When Shakeri missed the deadline, the IRGC officer said it would be “easier” to assassinate Trump if he lost, so they should postpone the operation until after the US presidential election, as per Mint.

Shakeri allegedly met his co-conspirators, Brooklyn resident Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Staten Island resident Jonathan Loadholt, 36, while in prison.

The trio’s plot to kill Trump and human rights advocate Masih Alinejad, who lives in Brooklyn, was a part of a larger Iranian attempt to stifle criticism and harm US interests.

Prosecutors claim that Shakeri was also asked by IRGC officers to assist in organising a mass shooting in Sri Lanka that would target Israeli tourists, leading both US and Sri Lankan authorities to alert tourists to the possibility of an attack.

Shakeri added that he was assigned to monitor and kill two people who were only identified as Jewish businesspeople residing in New York City.

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Why was Trump targeted?

The assassination plot against Donald Trump stems from the US president-elect’s hostile policy towards Iran while in government.

The Iranian economy suffered greatly as a result of Trump’s heavy economic sanctions and his abandonment of the historic nuclear agreement with Iran.

Tensions between the US and Iran increased even worse in 2020 when Trump approved the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

The 78-year-old has been targeted since Soleimani’s murder because, after coming into power, he promised to blow Iran “to smithereens.”

The charges brought against Shakeri, Loadholt, and Rivera are part of a larger campaign by US authorities to combat Iranian-sponsored activities that target US citizens.

The complaint details an attempt to kill Masih Alinejad in addition to the Trump conspiracy. Brooklyn-based Alinejad has been a vocal supporter of women’s rights and has often denounced the oppressive practices of the Iranian dictatorship.

Prosecutors claimed in February that Shakeri paid Rivera and Loadholt around $1,000 to keep an eye on the activist during a gathering at Fairfield University in Connecticut.

According to court records, the two allegedly made many trips to the activist’s Brooklyn home in March as the surveillance operations continued. Their several trips have been revealed by text messages, security camera footage, and cell site location data.

Shakeri claimed he was assigned by the IRGC to hire people to kill the journalist and promised to pay Rivera and Loadholt $100,000 to “finish the work” in April. Furthermore, documents indicate that by July, the Iranians were becoming impatient and ordering their US assets to “take care of it already.”

With inputs from agencies