Iran denies DOJ report that it was involved in plot to assassinate Trump

Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Justice Department dismissed a report released Friday that it said had foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City states that an unnamed official with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps instructed Fahad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, to “focus on surveillance and ultimately assassinating the former President of the United States.” Donald J. Trump.”

“Shakeri notified law enforcement that he had been tasked with providing a plan to murder President-elect Donald J. Trump on October 7, 2024,” it added.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spokesman Esmail Bagei said on Saturday that he “categorically dismissed claims that Iran was involved in attempts to assassinate current and former US officials.”

An Iranian asset has been indicted in a plot to assassinate Trump, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Bagei described the Justice Department’s report that it had thwarted an Iranian plot to kill US President-elect Donald Trump as “completely unfounded and rejected.” (ATTA KENARE/AFP, Getty Images)

Describing the report as “completely baseless and rejected,” Barhayi said Iran had been accused of similar scenarios in the past, which were “firmly rejected and proven to be false.”

He said repeating these types of claims was a “malicious conspiracy orchestrated by Zionist and anti-Iranian forces.” “It’s a problem between the United States and Iran,” he said.

Baghaei concluded that Iran “remains committed” to using “all lawful and lawful means” at the domestic and international levels to “restore the rights of the Iranian nation.”

Intelligence reports say Iran will continue to try to kill Trump regardless of the outcome of the election.

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Shakeri, who is believed to be living in Iran, “immigrated to the United States as a child and served 14 years in prison for robbery before being deported around 2008.”

Shakeri is also accused of tasking two New York men, 49-year-old Carlisle Rivera and 36-year-old Jonathon Loadholt, with surveilling and killing Iranian-Americans who were “outspoken critics of the Iranian regime.” $100,000.

The person, who identified himself as journalist Masih Alinejad, lives in the United States. targeted by the Iranian government the DOJ report said.

Watch: Masih Alinejad: I don’t deserve to go after murderers

“We will not support the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and our national security,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

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Shakeri, Rivera and Loadholt could face up to 10 to 20 years in prison on charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to launder money.

Prosecutors said Shakeri was also indicted on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and conspiracy. Violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act Sanctions against the Iranian government could result in sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

Fox News’ Greg Norman and David Spunt contributed to this report.