Federal prosecutors recently pulled back the curtain on a murder-for-hire scheme that sounds like a bad spy novel but carries deadly serious weight. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that Iranian operatives spent months trying to coordinate an assassination attempt on Donald Trump during the height of the 2024 election cycle. It didn't work. In fact, the whole thing fell apart before a single shot was even considered.
The reality of international espionage is often less about high-tech gadgets and more about the desperate, messy search for reliable help. When the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) looked for a hitman on American soil, they didn't find a professional. They found a network of criminals who were already under the watchful eye of the FBI. This is how a state-sponsored plot from Tehran ended up fizzling out in a series of recorded phone calls and botched logistics. Meanwhile, you can read related stories here: The Calculated Silence Behind the June Strikes on Iran.
The Man in the Middle Farhad Shakeri
At the center of this mess is Farhad Shakeri. He’s an Afghan national who spent years in the New York prison system before being deported in 2008. While behind bars, he built a Rolodex of criminal contacts that the IRGC thought they could exploit. Shakeri wasn't some ideological zealot. He was a guy looking to settle a debt or maybe get back into the good graces of a regime that could protect him.
According to the criminal complaint, Shakeri was tasked by IRGC officials to provide a plan to kill Trump within seven days. If he couldn't meet that deadline, the Iranians supposedly told him they’d wait until after the election, betting that Trump would lose and be easier to hit as a private citizen. It shows a fundamental misunderstanding of U.S. security. A former president doesn't just lose Secret Service protection because an election ends. To understand the bigger picture, we recommend the excellent analysis by The Washington Post.
Shakeri didn't do the legwork himself. He stayed safely in Tehran while trying to remotely manage a crew of guys in New York. You can't run a high-stakes assassination via WhatsApp and expect it to stay off the radar of U.S. intelligence. The FBI was basically listening in real-time.
Why Foreign Assets Struggle on U.S. Soil
Iran has a history of trying to outsource its dirty work. They've targeted dissidents in Brooklyn and former government officials like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo. Their strategy is consistent. They find someone with a criminal record, offer them a life-changing amount of money, and hope for the best.
It almost always fails for three reasons:
- The Human Element: Career criminals make terrible secret agents. They talk. They brag. They flip when the FBI knocks on their door because they’d rather spend ten years in a federal cell than face a lifetime for conspiracy to commit murder.
- Communication Gaps: Encrypted apps are great, but they aren't magic. The U.S. government has spent decades perfecting the art of tracking Iranian intelligence patterns. Once Shakeri started reaching out to his old prison buddies, the red flags started waving.
- The Secret Service Bubble: Assassinating a high-profile political figure in the U.S. is nearly impossible for a ragtag group of street-level criminals. The security detail around a presidential candidate is designed to withstand professional military-grade assaults, not a couple of guys with a handgun and a map.
The Iranians seemed to think they could just throw money at the problem. They reportedly offered Shakeri’s associates hundreds of thousands of dollars to carry out various hits, including one on a prominent Iranian-American journalist. But money doesn't buy competence.
The Seven Day Ultimatum and the Election Gamble
The most telling part of this plot was the timing. The IRGC told Shakeri to come up with a plan in October 2024. They were frantic. They saw the election approaching and feared a second Trump term would bring back the "maximum pressure" campaign that crippled their economy.
When Shakeri told them a plan that quickly was impossible, the IRGC allegedly told him to pause. Their logic was that if Trump lost, the "noise" around him would die down and the security would soften. This is a classic case of a foreign power projecting their own systems onto ours. In many countries, a former leader loses power and protection instantly. In the U.S., the security remains a fortress.
Legal Fallout and International Tension
The DOJ didn't just stop the plot; they made it public to send a message. Two of Shakeri's associates, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathon Loadholt, were arrested in New York. They aren't international spies. They're guys from the neighborhood who got caught up in something way over their heads.
The charges—including conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering—carry decades in prison. Meanwhile, Shakeri remains in Iran, out of reach of U.S. law enforcement but effectively trapped. He’s now a burned asset. He can't travel, and he's only useful to the IRGC as long as he has something to offer.
This failed plot is a reminder that Iran is willing to take massive risks to settle old scores, specifically the 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani. They haven't forgotten, and they aren't stopping. But as long as they keep relying on deported convicts and amateur criminals, these plots will likely continue to end in a federal courtroom rather than a tragedy.
If you're following these developments, keep an eye on the upcoming court dates for Rivera and Loadholt. Their testimony could reveal even more about how the IRGC funds these operations through shell companies and crypto transfers. It's a window into a shadow war that is being fought on our streets every day. Stay informed by checking the primary DOJ filings if you want the raw, unedited details of the wiretaps. They’re a wild read.
