The mastermind behind a chilling plot to assassinate Donald Trump and an Iranian-American journalist has been unmasked by DailyMail.com as a father-of-five whose brother is a ‘die-hard’ MAGA supporter.
Farhad Shakeri, 51, was revealed to have admitted to orchestrating the terrifying scheme which was thwarted by the FBI and involved three alleged hitmen who were hired by the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to carry out a hit on the president-elect.
The would-be-assassin previously lived in the US, being brought up in Manassas, Virginia, from the age of nine along with his six siblings after their parents moved the family from Afghanistan for a better life.
Pictured exclusively by DailyMail.com today, Shakeri can be seen posing with his American wife – whose identity is being withheld – in a photo taken shortly after he was deported from the US in 2008.
The couple had five children and had been living in New York when Shakeri was convicted of robbery and kidnapping in 1994 for which he was handed a 21-year sentence before his deportation to Afghanistan.
Sources told DailyMail.com Shakeri then moved his family to Dubai, before moving on to Turkey and spending time in Afghanistan and Iran over the years.
Farhad Shakeri, 51, was revealed to have admitted to orchestrating the terrifying scheme which to the FBI over a number of phones calls in recent months, but remains at large. He is pictured with his American wife after his deportation
Shakeri is alleged to have helped orchestrate a plot to assassinate Trump weeks before the presidential election and was also offered a large sum of money to investigate – and ultimately kill – Iranian-American activist and journalist Masih Alinejad (right)
His wife and children would return to the US following the couple’s split in 2015.
Shakeri, meanwhile, would be arrested again in 2019 by the Sri Lanka Police Narcotics Bureau (SLPRB) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in connection with the seizure of approximately 92 kilograms of heroin.
Authorities say Shakeri confessed to the FBI in five separate phone calls over a two-month period that he helped orchestrate a plot to assassinate Trump weeks before the presidential election.
He claimed the original plan was to carry out killings against Iranian opponents in the US, before receiving new orders on October 7 – the anniversary of the Hamas attacks in Israel – to solely target Trump.
Despite his admissions, Shakeri is still on the loose in Tehran, as Iran does not have an extradition agreement with the US and tensions remain at an all-time high between the two nations.
American authorities therefore have no legal means to order Shakeri to return to the United States or give himself up to face punishment.
But sources say his shocking high-stakes admissions have left his family – who are currently in the US – shell-shocked and ‘terrified’ for their lives here.
They have gone completely to ground since news of his plot broke, with one relative threatening to call police on reporters when they were approached for a comment.
Shakeri’s younger brother is a huge supporter of Donald Trump and would never have condoned the plot, sources told DailyMail.com, insisting that the rest of the clan were ‘very peaceful.’
‘Farhad is just a wild card’, one source said. ‘His entire family are a very peaceful and very loving and kind family. They meet up every week and go to mosque, they are Muslims.
‘I don’t think they had any idea about any of this. No one can get hold of them at all right now.
‘Farhad is the only one who never really stopped with the bad behavior, but I’m in shock that he could be capable of something like this. His mother will be heartbroken.’
Pictures released by the Justice Department after the thwarted attempt on Trump’s life
Carlisle ‘Pop’ Rivera, 49, one of the alleged would-be assassins hired by Iran is a self-employed pipe fitter from Staten Island and convicted murderer. He was arrested last Thursday and charged with conspiracy to murder the president-elect and an Iranian activist
Shakeri allegedly paid Rivera and a third alleged hired hitman Jonathan Loadholt $1,000 to surveil Alinejad at a speaking engagement at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. This screenshot showed the details for the event, a photo of her, and a money order for $500 to be paid to Rivera
The FBI have had five high-stakes discussions with Shakeri over the phone in the span of two months.
Bureau officials have not revealed why Shakeri volunteered so much explosive information to them.
He reportedly had ‘issues’ in his life early on, well before his 1994 conviction for robbing a gun store in New York aged just 20.
Shakeri and three other men were charged in connection with stealing 80 firearms and kidnapping a store clerk from T.D. Gun Range in Medford in March 1994.
A probe at the time discovered some of the stolen weapons at Shakeri’s home, with investigators accusing the gang of holding the clerk of the store up at gun point before stealing the cache of weapons.
They reportedly ‘argued’ over weather or not to kill their victim, but ultimately dumped him 60 miles away from the store – threatening to harm his family if he identified them.
Shakeri was handed a 21-year-prison sentence, but deported after serving just 14.
Authorities gave him the option to serve the rest of his sentence in a US prison – which he declined.
After being deported in 2008, Shakeri moved his life to the UAE, before moving on to Turkey – with sources saying he lost contact with some of his family after again being jailed in 2019.
The last time many of the family heard from would-be-assassin, he was being held in Afghanistan on death row, and some were unaware that he had fled to Iran.
‘He spent a lot of time on death row’, the source added. ‘His mother had no clue about him being on death row, she just thinks that he has been deported.
‘His brother was very disappointed in his behavior, he could no longer look up to him, and that is a big deal in the Muslim community.
‘Farhad is really nasty. It just shocks me, because how did he keep getting out of death row – he must have been making deals with the worst of the worst to be getting out.’
Pictures released by the DOJ show the cache of weapons the suspected hitmen had at their disposal
Trump assassination attempt pictures released by the government
One of the weapons the hitmen allegedly bought for the assassination
His family reportedly wanted a relationship with the father-of-four, but struggled after hearing about the ‘heinous acts’ he was committing overseas.
‘The world fell on his younger brothers’ shoulders’, a source claimed. ‘Farhad was meant to be the eldest, but he just didn’t act like it and didn’t stop his behavior.’
Shakeri told authorities he met a senior member of the Revolutionary Guard through his work in Tehran in the ‘oil and fuel businesses.’
The man was referred to by others around him as Majid Soleimani, but Shakeri said he has no way of knowing whether the man is connected to late Iranian military officer Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated under Trump’s watch in 2020.
When Majid learned that Shakeri used to live in New York, he offered him a large sum of money to investigate – and ultimately kill – Iranian-American activist and journalist Masih Alinejad.
In his initial calls with the FBI, Shakeri denied that he agreed to have Alinejad killed, and said he merely offered his services to have her investigated.
By his last correspondence with authorities on November 7, he accepted that he had enlisted a former prison buddy, Carlisle Rivera, to kill her.
According to the criminal complaint seen by DailyMail.com, Rivera was waiting on a $100,000 payment from the IRGC to carry out the assassination.
But Shakeri said by mid-late September, this IRGC official had told him to ‘put aside his other efforts on behalf of the IRGC and focus on surveilling, and ultimately assassinating, Donald Trump.
Shakeri warned Majid that such a feat would cost ‘a huge amount of money’, and said he was reassured that ‘money is not an issue.’
On or about October 7, Shakeri was given a seven-day deadline to devise a thorough plan to carry out the assassination attempt.
He was told if he could not come up with a plan in this timeframe, the attempt would be put on the back burner until after the election, because officials in Iran assumed Trump would lose the election and then have less protection.
Trump has been a target of Iran assassination threats since he ordered the strike that killed Soleimani, the leader of the brutal Iranian Quds Forces
Authorities described Shakeri as an Iranian government ‘asset’ and say he confessed his plan to the FBI on five separate phone calls – but he’s still walking free
In September, the Trump campaign revealed it had been briefed on the threat from Tehran.
‘Big threats on my life by Iran,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. ‘The entire US military is watching and waiting.
‘Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but they will try again.’
Questions have been raised about whether an effort is underway to also secure the arrest of Shakeri, given his involvement in the plot.
Shakeri met Rivera in prison while he was serving time for first-degree robbery and Rivera doing time for second-degree murder.
He also enlisted the help of another former inmate, but that person was not named in the criminal complaint and instead was identified as ‘co-conspirator one.’
Co-conspirator One helped to locate and investigate Alinejad, according to the documents. He and Shakeri are long-time associates.
After they were both released from prison, they were arrested in January 2019 together in Sri Lanka following the seizure of 92 kilograms of heroin.
The disturbing documents unsealed by the Department of Justice last week revealed the arsenal of weapons the would-be assassins had at their disposal and the texts messages they sent each other to concoct their plan.
Shakeri explained in his FBI interviews that he had been tasked with surveilling and killing Trump to avenge the devastating drone strike that killed Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, in January 2020.
Trump rises from the stage with his fist in the air after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July
Shakeri – along with New Yorkers Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathan Loadholt, 36, – are also accused of targeting an Iranian-American activist and were offered $500,000 to kill two Jewish businessmen living in the US.
He allegedly confessed to the FBI that the Iranians had been devoting as much money as possible to ensure efforts to kill Trump were carried out.
The other two men are both in US custody and made a court appearance in New York on Thursday.
Trump has already survived two attempts on his life, including avoiding death by a fraction of an inch when he was shot in the ear at an election rally in Pennsylvania in July.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that there are ‘few actors’ in the world that ‘pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran.’
‘The Justice Department has charged 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.’
‘We have also charged and arrested two individuals who we allege were recruited as part of that network to silence and kill, on U.S. soil, an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of the regime.
‘We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk