The US Justice Department has charged three people over an Iranian-linked “murder-for-hire” plot to kill Donald Trump and other Americans, it has been revealed.

Two alleged hitmen were arrested on Thursday (US time) in New York and one of the accused remains on the loose and is believed to live Iran.

They have been identified as Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island.

President-elect Trump survived two assassination attempts during the election campaign — at a rally in Pennsylvania and on his private golf course in Florida.

Both of those alleged perpetrators were American.

Details of the latest plot reveal Shakeri, who remains at large, was tasked by the Iranian regime with assassinating Trump before the election.

He was allegedly told in September to surveil and assassinate Trump.  In October he was ordered to provide a plan within seven days to kill Trump.

If he failed to devise a plan, he was told the assassination plot would be delayed until after the election, claims the US Justice Department.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the charges exposed Iran’s “continued brazen attempts to target US citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders and dissidents who criticise the regime in Tehran”.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a designated foreign terrorist organisation — has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on US soil and that simply won’t be tolerated.”

It’s claimed Iran was seeking vengeance for the death of Qasem Soleimani, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief, in a US drone strike in Baghdad during the Trump regime in 2020.

The hired hitman Shakeri immigrated to the US as a child and was deported around 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction.

In recent months, Shakeri used a network of criminal associates he met in prison to supply Iran with operatives to conduct surveillance and assassinations of targets, it’s alleged.

According to statements made by Shakeri in recorded interviews with law enforcement agents, he was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill Trump.

During the interview, Shakeri claimed he did not intend to propose a plan to kill Trump within the timeframe set by Iran.

Shakeri, Rivera, and Loadholt have all been charged with murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering conspiracy.