Iran plotted to kill Jewish businessmen, US says

An Iranian official allegedly offered $500,000 dollars for the murder of Jewish businessmen in the USA, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

The alleged scheme, along with plans to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump before the election, was revealed by the authorities in an announcement of charges against three men for conspiring to kill a US citizen of Iranian descent.

Farhad Shakeri, who the department described as an “asset” of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is believed to be living in Iran, was charged with multiple federal crimes along with New Yorkers Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt.

Shakeri faces additional charges for providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, as well as violating US sanctions imposed on Iran.

The DOJ stated that in recorded interviews with law enforcement agents, Shakeri had said he had been tasked by the IRCG with providing a plan to kill Trump as well as assassinating US and Israeli citizens in the USA.

According to the department, he said he had been “tasked with surveilling two Jewish American citizens residing in New York City and offered $500,000 by an IRGC official for the murder of either victim. He was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned the Iranian regime’s actions, stating that the US will not tolerate any foreign government’s attempts to target American citizens. “There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” Garland said. "We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people."

FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasised the ongoing threat posed by IRGC, which has a history of plotting attacks on US soil. “The IRGC, a designated foreign terrorist organisation, has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target Americans on US soil,” he said. “These deadly schemes were disrupted thanks to the hard work of the FBI and our law enforcement partners.”

According to the BBC, Iran has described the DOJt’s claims as “baseless”.