Farhad Shakeri, the Iranian leader who was allegedly behind the plot to assassinate President Donald Trump in 2024, has been killed by the US military.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed during a press briefing on Wednesday that Shakeri had been "hunted down and killed".
“Yesterday, the leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump was hunted down and killed. Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh,” he was quoted as saying by The Hill.
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Who was Farhad Shakeri?
Farhad Shakeri, an IRGC asset based in Tehran who immigrated to the US as a child, was deported in 2008 following a 14-year robbery sentence. He leveraged a network of criminal associates, met in US prisons, to supply the IRGC with operatives for surveillance and assassinations targeting individuals of interest, according to the US Department of Justice.
Shakeri remained under parole monitoring until 2015, despite his 2008 deportation, and was later detained in Sri Lanka in 2019 following a major heroin seizure. This event underscored the persistent criminal activities associated with his network.
He faced several serious legal allegations, including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, a crime that carried a potential 20-year prison sentence.
Shakeri was also charged with providing material support to the same organisation and with conspiring to breach sanctions against the Iranian government under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, both of which similarly threatened up to 20 years of incarceration.
In 2024, he allegedly masterminded a murder-for-hire operation in coordination with the IRGC to assassinate Trump. As per a criminal complaint, in September 2024, an IRGC official directed Shakeri to focus on "assassinating the former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump."
“Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on October 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump. During the interview, Shakeri claimed he did not intend to propose a plan to kill Trump within the timeframe set by the IRGC," the US Department of Justice said.
Trump Assassination Plots
Trump was the target of two assassination attempts while running for president, one of which resulted in a sniper's bullet clipping his ear. In November 2024, the US Justice Department charged Shakeri, 51, over an alleged effort by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to assassinate Trump.
In a statement at the time, the US attorney general Merrick Garland stated that Shakeri was "an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran's assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump".
Hegseth said the assassination occurred as the United States and Israel prepare to launch additional attacks on Iran. “Now, this is not a mission accomplished situation. This is simply a reality check. The combination of US and Israeli intelligence and combat power will control Iran, and will control it soon,” he said.
“Sure, Iran will still be able to shoot some missiles and still be able to launch one-way attack drones at civilian targets, and their proxies will attempt to attack our embassies, bases, and soft targets. They are terrorists, after all, and they need to target civilians because they can't fight toe-to-toe. But we will find them, and we will kill them,” Hegseth added.
Iran has retaliated, targeting American bases in multiple Gulf countries and killing six Americans who were sheltering at a civilian port in Kuwait.
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