Bipartisan Congressional Initiative to Counter Iranian Government Conspiracies in the U.S.

A new bipartisan initiative in both the House of Representatives and the Senate seeks to respond to the criminal activities of the Islamic Republic on U.S. soil by increasing criminal penalties for individuals acting on behalf of this government or other enemies of the United States. The 'Deterrence Act,' introduced by Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan, Republican Senator Joni Ernst, Republican lawmaker Ann Wagner, Democratic lawmaker Brad Schneider, Republican lawmaker Nathaniel Moran, and Democratic lawmaker Jared Moskowitz, comes after years of Iranian government efforts to hire criminals based in the U.S. for the assassination of Donald Trump, the former and elected President of the United States, and some members of his administration, as well as Iranian dissidents. The proposed legislation increases penalties for criminals who knowingly engage in a conspiracy for 'murder for hire' aimed at assassinating federal officials and their families, kidnapping or attempting to kidnap, threatening with dangerous weapons, and stalking by a hostile government. Senator Maggie Hassan stated in a statement that hostile governments like the Islamic Republic are collaborating with criminal organizations to kill individuals on U.S. soil. According to her, this bipartisan initiative will intensify penalties against criminal gangs, especially if they are hired by foreign governments. Senator Hassan emphasized that the swift passage of this initiative sends a clear message that the United States will not tolerate such malicious behavior. Senator Joni Ernst stated that the initiative is essential to counter years of 'appeasement' and the subsequent freedom of action for the Islamic Republic in the U.S. He recalled the Iranian government's attempts to assassinate Donald Trump, adding that this initiative will impose severe consequences on those responsible for the Iranian government's malicious actions on U.S. soil. Ann Wagner described the initiative as an effort to counter the Iranian regime's assassination attempts against Donald Trump, stating that the U.S. must defend its citizens against the brazen and destabilizing attacks from foreign countries. Brad Schneider characterized the Iranian regime's conspiracies to assassinate American citizens as 'deeply concerning' and requiring 'decisive action' from lawmakers to send a clear message to the Iranian government and other hostile states. In this context, Nathaniel Moran noted the assassination attempt against Trump and other American citizens as a reminder of the 'urgent need for strong and practical deterrence against foreign regimes seeking to harm Americans on U.S. soil.' Finally, Jared Moskowitz, a member of the bipartisan House task force investigating the assassination attempt against Trump, stated that the purpose of the initiative is to send a message to foreign government operatives, especially the Iranian government, that they will face severe consequences if they harm Americans. The conspiracy of the Islamic Republic to assassinate Trump was detailed by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday, November 9, regarding the thwarting of a conspiracy by the Islamic Republic to assassinate Donald Trump before the presidential election. According to the criminal indictment filed in the federal court in Manhattan, New York, an anonymous official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had ordered one of the Iranian operatives in September to prepare a plan to monitor and ultimately assassinate Trump. The release of the U.S. Department of Justice statement came just three days after Donald Trump's significant victory in the presidential election, provoking widespread reactions among American officials and much speculation among political experts. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that there is no threat to U.S. national security as serious as that posed by the Islamic Republic. He noted that the Department of Justice has charged an Iranian operative who was tasked by the Iranian government to lead a network of criminals to carry out assassination conspiracies against targets such as Donald Trump. Garland added that two other individuals, who were hired as part of this network to silence and kill a critical American journalist in the U.S., have also been arrested and charged. The U.S. Attorney General emphasized that the U.S. will not tolerate the Iranian government's efforts to jeopardize the national security of the U.S. and its citizens. FBI Director Christopher Wray, in a statement, said that the charges announced on Friday demonstrate the 'ongoing and brazen' efforts of the Iranian government to attack American citizens, including Donald Trump, other American leaders, and Iranian dissidents. He stated that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a foreign terrorist organization, has been conspiring with criminals and assassins to attack Americans on U.S. soil, and such actions will not be tolerated. Wray added that thanks to the intensive efforts of the FBI, deadly plots have been disrupted. He affirmed that the FBI is committed to using all its resources to protect American citizens from the Islamic Republic and any other enemy intending to attack Americans. The U.S. Department of Justice identified the main Iranian operative for the assassination of Donald Trump as Farhad Shakri, a 51-year-old resident of Iran, along with his associates Carlyle Rivera, 49, from Brooklyn, New York, and Jonathan Ludolt, 36, from Staten Island, New York. According to the Department of Justice statement, he is an officer of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps living in Tehran, Iran. Shakri, who immigrated to the U.S. as a child, was deported from the U.S. around 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for theft. The Associated Press identified Shakri as having Afghan origins. The Department of Justice stated that Shakri had recently used a network of criminal associates he had become acquainted with in U.S. prisons to supply operational forces to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to monitor and assassinate the Guard's targets. In addition to attempting and planning to assassinate the elected President of the United States, the three individuals were also charged with participating in a conspiracy to kill an Iranian-American citizen in New York, with Rivera being arrested in Brooklyn and Ludolt in Staten Island, while Shakri is at large and believed to be residing in Iran. Shakri, Rivera, and Ludolt have been charged with 'conspiracy to commit murder for hire' and 'conspiracy to commit money laundering,' which could result in a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each. Although Merrick Garland did not mention the name of the journalist targeted in the failed assassination by the Islamic Republic, Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist and political activist, announced that the FBI informed her that two men had been arrested for attempting to kill her at Fairfield University. The two arrested suspects, Carlyle Rivera, 49, and Jonathan Ludolt, 36, were supposed to attempt an assassination during Alinejad's speech at the university. This Iranian-American journalist added that the two individuals had been hired by Farhad Shakri. This is the third failed assassination plot by the Islamic Republic against Masih Alinejad, resulting in 15 individuals being charged, six of whom are currently in custody. The Islamic Republic of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday described the U.S. accusations regarding Tehran's conspiracy to assassinate Donald Trump as 'completely unfounded.' According to Agence France-Presse, Ismail Baghaei, the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement following the U.S. prosecutors' announcement regarding the alleged conspiracy, said: 'The Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects the claims regarding [the government's] involvement in an assassination targeting former or current U.S. officials.' The denial of the Iranian government's role in this conspiracy comes as Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened in recent years that they would take 'revenge' for the killing of Qassem Soleimani by any means necessary. Ali Shamkhani, the then-secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic, had stated during those days that the Iranian government's 'response' to Soleimani's killing 'will definitely be military, but it will not be limited to military actions.' The Islamic Republic's attempts to assassinate its political opponents abroad, as well as former officials of the Trump administration, including Trump himself, are not new. Reuters reported in mid-October that the Islamic Republic has been involved in at least 33 assassination or kidnapping attempts in Europe and the U.S. since 2020. The news of the failed assassination attempt by the Islamic Republic against Donald Trump has elicited reactions from some American lawmakers. Marco Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, in response to the U.S. Department of Justice report about the Islamic Republic's conspiracy to assassinate the elected President of the United States, said: 'The Iranian regime wants to kill Donald because it sees him as a threat to its survival.' Dan Sullivan, a Republican senator from Alaska, while reposting the news regarding the Iranian attempt to assassinate Donald Trump, wrote that he has pressured the Biden administration over the past four years to reinstate Trump's successful maximum pressure policy against the Islamic Republic. Senator Sullivan noted that he looks forward to working with the Trump administration again on these 'critical issues.' James Lankford, a Republican senator from Colorado, stated that the Iranian government hates the freedoms present in the United States, and this assassination plot is further evidence of that hatred. He praised the swift action of the FBI and other executive agencies to thwart this assassination plot, saying: 'We must remain vigilant against terrorism here in the United States and continue to take necessary actions to protect the security of Americans.' Joni Ernst, a Republican senator from Iowa, in response to the news of the Iranian attempt to assassinate Donald Trump, wrote that Trump will reinstate the 'maximum pressure' sanctions and will bankrupt the Iranian government again. Senator Ernst emphasized that the Iranian regime based on terror and assassination must come to an end. Finally, John Kennedy, a Republican senator from Louisiana, wrote on social media that the Iranian government hates Americans. Experts Hussein Aghaei, an international relations and strategic affairs researcher, and Shahin Modarres, a security studies analyst and international relations expert, discussed the Iranian government's assassination plots against Donald Trump on Friday in an interview with VOA. Hussein Aghaei, in response to a question from the VOA host about why the Islamic Republic has become bolder in its terrorist actions, specifically the decision to assassinate the elected President of the United States, said: 'The Islamic Republic has launched an organized hybrid war against its enemies, and as it finds itself cornered and its survival threatened, it has increased the scale and intensity of its cross-border assassination operations.' He cited a report from the Institute for National Security Studies affiliated with Tel Aviv University, stating: 'Since 2020, the Islamic Republic has expanded its assassination operations, planning at least seven operations against Israeli and Jewish interests worldwide in 2021, about nine in 2022, and approximately nine terrorist planning operations in 2023, and at least six cross-border assassination operations in 2024 targeting Europe and the U.S.' This international relations researcher and strategic affairs expert attributed the attempt to assassinate Donald Trump to the Iranian government's fear of his potential rise to power, emphasizing that despite the Islamic Republic's expanding efforts to assassinate opponents and 'enemies,' these assassinations have mostly failed. In this context, Shahin Modarres, a security studies analyst and international relations expert, did not rule out the possibility of the Islamic Republic's involvement in the failed assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania in July, stating: 'No possibility can be dismissed, as the Islamic Republic sometimes uses individuals who are in the early stages of ideological radicalization, and Iranian government agents, by infiltrating these individuals and exploiting their beliefs, encourage them to carry out assassinations such as the attempt on Donald Trump's life.' He further stated that the lack of action by the United States and Western countries against the Iranian government's criminal operatives is due to the presence of powerful and wealthy Iranian lobbies in the West, adding: 'These lobbies work for the Islamic Republic in a completely official capacity, and given the legal systems in the West, very precise evidence and strong documentation are required to take action against them, which makes combating the Iranian lobbies difficult.' According to these two experts, with Donald Trump in the White House, the approach to dealing with the Iranian lobbies and 'mafia groups' supporting the Iranian government will be pursued seriously, cutting off their arms and neutralizing their destructive actions, and the likelihood that the European Union will also agree to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization will increase. Additionally, Jason Braddock, the policy director at the 'Alliance Against an Iranian Nuclear State,' reacted to the charges against Shakri and his accomplices by posting on X that Farhad Shakri voluntarily contacted the police.