Iran today called US accusations that Tehran is involved in assassination plots in the United States, targeting President-elect Donald Trump in particular, “totally unfounded”.
"Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai considers completely unfounded and rejects allegations that Iran is involved in an assassination attempt on former or current American officials," a statement from Iran's diplomatic service said.
The US Justice Department on Friday filed criminal charges in a failed Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump before this week's election.
A criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court alleges that an unidentified official in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps instructed a member last September in a plan to monitor and ultimately kill Trump.
If the man, identified as Farjad Shakeri, failed to come up with a plan before the election, according to the complaint, Iran would temporarily suspend its plan, as Trump was expected to lose the presidential election, making him an easier target to kill.
Shakeri, who is on the run and remains in Iran, told the FBI that he did not plan to propose a plan to assassinate Trump within the seven days requested by the official, according to the complaint.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said Friday that the president-elect was aware of the assassination plan and would stop at nothing “to return to the White House and restore peace throughout the world.”
Two other men, identified as Jonathan Loadholt and Carlisle Rivera, were arrested in the case on charges that Shakeri recruited them to track down and kill Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, the target of several assassination plots allegedly by Iran that were foiled by authorities.
In a post on the social network X, the journalist stressed that she had traveled to the United States to “practice her First Amendment right to freedom of expression.”
"I don't want to die. I want to fight tyranny, and I deserve to be safe. I thank the authorities for protecting me, but I ask the U.S. government to protect America's national security."
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Shakeri, an Afghan national who immigrated to the U.S. as a child but was later deported after serving 14 years in prison for robbery, also told investigators that he was tasked by his Revolutionary Guard contact with plotting the assassination of two Jewish-Americans living in New York.
The plot — the charges for which were unsealed just days after Trump's victory over Democrat Kamala Harris — reflects what federal authorities have described as Iran's ongoing efforts to target U.S. government officials and other political figures, including Trump, on U.S. soil.
Last summer, the Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot against U.S. officials.
"There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
FBI Director Christopher Wray stressed that the case shows Iran's "ongoing, brazen attempts to target American citizens," including Trump, "other government leaders and dissidents critical of the regime in Tehran."
Iranian operatives also conducted a hacking operation and leaked emails belonging to Trump campaign associates, in what authorities assessed as an attempt to interfere in the presidential election.
Republican Donald Trump was elected the 47th President of the United States, having surpassed the 270 votes needed in the Electoral College, with the results still being counted.
Trump also leads his Democratic opponent in the popular vote, with 50.7% to Kamala Harris' 47.7%.
The Republican Party also recovered the Senate (upper house of Congress) by surpassing the threshold of 51 elected representatives, while in the House of Representatives (lower house) the latest data indicate that it is also ahead in the count, with 211 seats, just seven away from the majority.
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