The Justice Department on Friday said it has thwarted an Iranian plot to kill President-elect, Donald Trump in the leadup to the election.

 

Authorities in a court document filed in federal court in Manhattan alleged that an unnamed official in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed a contact to put together a plan to surveil and ultimately kill Trump.

 

This was made known in a statement by Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday.

 

Fox News reports that Garland announced that the Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was at the centre of the plot.

 

According to him, the Iranian regime 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.

 

The report also stated that two individuals, who were allegedly recruited as part of that network to silence and kill an American journalist has been arrested and charged.

 

“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,” Garland said.