FBI thwarts Iranian plot to assassinate Trump,2 held,3 charged

The FBI thwarted an Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump, the Department of Justice said on Friday as it charged an Iranian national and arrested two American citizens for involvement in a plot to murder the Republican president-elect.The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) charged Farhad Shakeri, 51, an asset of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who is believed to reside in Iran. Two individuals, Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, were arrested from Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York on Thursday.  Shakeri, an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who authorities say maintains a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire plots.
Shakeri told investigators that a contact in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him this past September to set aside other work he was doing and assemble a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.Two other men were arrested on charges that Shakeri recruited them to follow and kill prominent Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, who has endured mulitple Iranian murder-for-hire plots foiled by law enforcement.
Intelligence officials have said Iran opposed Trump’s reelection, seeing him as more likely to increase tension between Washington and Tehran. Trump’s administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge.
"Assassinating and killing is in the DNA of the Islamic Republic," Iranian dissident journalist Masih Alinejad told Fox News, hours after the US charged an Iranian asset for planning to kill her. Alinejad called on president-elect Donald Trump not to negotiate with Tehran. Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei faces numerous challenges with few possible options as he struggles to digest Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, which he did not expect.