An operative for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Farhad Shakeri, admitted to federal investigators that he was assigned to monitor and potentially assassinate President-elect Donald Trump in September, as disclosed in court documents released on Friday.

In an over-the-phone interview, Shakeri, who is thought to be residing in Iran, informed investigators that unnamed IRGC officials urged him to organize an attack on Mr. Trump last month. If the plan could not materialize in time, Shakeri was instructed by the Iranian officials to postpone the plot until after the presidential election as they believed Trump would not win the election.

Shakeri, along with two U.S. residents, Carlisle Rivera of Brooklyn, New York, and Jonathon Loadholt of Staten Island, were indicted in relation to a wide-ranging scheme backed by Iran to allegedly monitor and assassinate those in the U.S. who opposed the Iranian government.

Prosecutors alleged that Shakeri paid Rivera and Loadholt about $1,000 to keep an eye on an activist who has voiced opposition towards Iran’s regime at an event at Fairfield University in Connecticut. This surveillance continued into March, as court documents revealed the duo made several trips to the activist’s Brooklyn residence.

Conversations about their efforts to locate and murder the Iranian American were exchanged between Shakeri and Rivera via voice notes on April 1, 2024, as per court documents. Shakeri emphasized the importance of patience and cautioned against hasty actions.

In the course of the federal investigation, numerous images of firearms and other weapons were discovered in online accounts owned by Rivera and Loadholt. By April, Shakeri agreed to pay Rivera and Loadholt $100,000 to complete the mission, stating that he was directed by the IRGC to hire individuals to assassinate the journalist.

However, the alleged plot to assassinate the activist was unsuccessful. Rivera and Loadholt, who made their initial appearance in federal court on Thursday, are not accused of being part of the plot to target Mr. Trump. They were ordered to be detained, according to the Justice Department, while Shakeri remains at large.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that the U.S. will not tolerate the Iranian regime’s attempts to threaten the American people and the country’s national security. This is not the first time charges have been brought against alleged operatives of the IRGC for plotting to assassinate Mr. Trump.

Shakeri participated in voluntary telephonic interviews with FBI agents on at least five occasions between September and November. During these interviews, he revealed the IRGC’s intention to kill an Iranian American activist and target Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka with a mass shooting event.

The allegations and charges announced on Friday are part of a broader effort by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement to publicly expose Iran’s alleged attempts to silence dissidents in the U.S. and target U.S. government figures after the killing of IRGC General Qasem Soleimani by American forces in 2020.

The Justice Department has charged multiple defendants in recent years with acting on behalf of Iran by targeting outspoken dissidents living in the U.S. The lawyers representing Rivera and Loadholt were not immediately identified.