Biden administration faces pressure to respond to Iran's plan to assassinate Trump.

The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attempted to hire a murderer to assassinate Donald Trump before the election, according to new charges unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday. This adds to the growing pressure on the Biden administration to take action.

A recently uncovered criminal complaint in the Southern District of New York alleges that the IRGC instructed an Iranian operative in September to concentrate on "monitoring" and devising a strategy to eliminate Trump prior to the Nov. 5 elections.

In September, U.S intelligence officials informed Trump about threats from Iran to assassinate him, as campaign officials confirmed.

In October, both President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that any Iranian threats against Trump were a "top-tier" national security issue, and any attempt by the IRGC to harm Trump would result in kinetic military action equal to "an act of war."

Neither the White House nor the State Department provided a comment on the threat from the IRGC or their response plan.

The IRGC, a military and counterintelligence agency, was labeled as a terrorist organization during Trump's first term.

Since January 2020, the IRGC has targeted Trump, who as president ordered a drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Quds Force.

After surviving two earlier assassination attempts while campaigning for a second term as president, news of the thwarted attack on Trump has emerged. The first attempt occurred in July at a Pennsylvania campaign rally, and the second happened in September while he was golfing at one of his properties in Florida.

In recent months, the Secret Service has increased their security presence around the Trump campaign due to the detailed threats from Iran, as revealed in criminal filings.

Trump's plans for tightening security at his residences before his inauguration are unclear.

On Friday, Merrick Garland, the U.S. Attorney General, stated that Iran poses a significant threat to the country's national security.

He stated that the Iranian regime's efforts to jeopardize the safety of the American people and the country's security will not be tolerated.

An unnamed official in the IRGC instructed Farhad Shakeri to concentrate on monitoring and eventually killing former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, according to the criminal complaint filed by U.S. prosecutors.

The Department of Justice stated that Shakeri, who is still on the run and is thought to be residing in Iran, immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported in or around 2008 following a 14-year prison sentence for a robbery conviction. Trump is referred to as "Victim-4" in the filings.

The IRGC Official-I instructed Shakeri to create a plan to kill Victim-4 within seven days of their meeting on or about October 7, 2024. If Shakeri failed to submit a plan within that timeframe, the IRGC would postpone its assassination plan until after the U.S. Presidential elections. The documents stated that IRGC Official-I believed that Victim-4 would lose the election and it would be easier to assassinate them afterward.

Federal prosecutors have charged and arrested Carlisle Rivera and Jonathon Loadholt for their alleged involvement in a plot to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York.

The Justice Department refused to provide any information regarding the threats or the probe.