The Justice Department revealed on Friday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uncovered an Iranian scheme to assassinate Donald Trump prior to the 2024 presidential election. This case, which was unsealed recently, highlights the significant security threats Trump has faced even before assuming office.

According to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, an Iranian operative named Farhad Shakeri informed law enforcement that an official from Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard had instructed him in September to develop a plan to surveil and ultimately assassinate Trump. 

Shakeri cautioned the official about the substantial costs involved in executing such a plan. The official responded, stating, “We have already spent a lot of money… money’s not an issue.” In October, the official indicated that if Shakeri could not finalize the plan within a week, they would postpone the assassination until after the election, anticipating that Trump would lose and that the task would be easier then.

This thwarted plot came to light just days after Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, underscoring ongoing efforts to target U.S. officials, dissidents, and political figures, including Trump, within the United States.

Officials have consistently warned that Iran seeks to retaliate for the U.S. drone strike in January 2020 that killed Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Quds Force, responsible for the country’s covert military operations abroad. Trump authorized the strike, which took place in Baghdad.

The unsealed complaint also disclosed that authorities had disrupted another assassination plot aimed at a Brooklyn human rights activist who has been an outspoken critic of Iran's treatment of women.

Attorney General Merrick Garland remarked, “There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran.”