- US files charges but Iran rejects accusations as ‘totally unfounded’
The United States Justice Department on Friday charged that an Iranian national now at large planned to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump and disclosed that he also put together a plot to kill Israeli tourists visiting Arugam Bay.
In indictments filed before a federal court in Manhattan, New York, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the man has been identified as Farhad Shakeri, who had spent time in American prisons for robbery. He had maintained a network of criminal associates in ‘murder for hire plots.’ The FBI said it was for an Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG) source who had instructed him “to set aside other work he was doing and assemble a plan within seven days in September this year” to surveil and ultimately kill Mr. Trump.
A Teheran-datelined AFP report said yesterday Iran’s foreign ministry described as “totally unfounded” US accusations of a plot by Iran to assassinate president-elect Trump. “The foreign ministry ‘rejects allegations that Iran is
implicated in an assassination attempt targeting former or current American officials,” the AFP report said, quoting spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei as saying in a statement.
Mr. Shakeri, still missing and believed to be in Iran, Carlisle Rivera alias Pop, and Jonathan Loadholt are charged in the District Court of the Southern District of New York. The 26-page indictment reveals that Mr. Shakeri had told the FBI he had been asked to target Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka and to plan a mass shooting event around October 2024. He disclosed that he had previously been tasked with conducting surveillance on the Israeli consulate in Sri Lanka.
The indictment adds: “According to Shakeri, after being provided surveillance on the Israeli consulate, the IRGC official 1 (one) asked Shakeri to identify another target, and Shakeri then instructed CC-1 (Co-conspirator not named) to surveil a tourist location in Arugam Bay frequented by Israeli tourists. IRGC Official-1 instructed Shakeri to orchestrate a mass shooting in the Arugam Bay location. And, according to Shakeri, they planned that CC-2 (a suspect in Sri Lanka custody) would supply AK-47s and other weapons for the attack.”
It is these findings that prompted the United States Embassy in Colombo to issue a travel warning on its website of “specific threats” to their nationals in the Arugam Bay area. This was followed by a warning from Israel’s security council to their nationals. Three US allies—Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—also issued similar warnings.
The disclosures debunk reported government claims that the persons who planned attacks in Arugam Bay did so for economic reasons. A Maldivian national in custody, their authorities claimed, was a killer and was out to assassinate a target assigned to him by a businessman. This was the claim made by authorities in Male. However, investigations into the case are still underway behind a cloak of secrecy.
