My chat with Tom Luongo, author of Gold, Goats N’ Guns, is posted at the end of this piece and is sparking some controversy and anger over a brief comment Tom made with respect to the Palestinians and Iran. While I don’t agree with him, I still find him a very smart, contrarian analyst. Some of the folks commenting on YouTube are losing their minds. They are judging an 80-minute conversation based on just five minutes. I don’t want a world in which I only talk to people who agree with me or think like I do. Part of my intent is to demonstrate that two adults can have a civil conversation and disagree without accusing the other of sexual activities with one’s mother.
Which brings me to the alleged Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump. This thing stinks to high heaven. It sounds like something the FBI cooked up to create a meme prior to Trump’s election, with the goal of portraying Iran as the ultimate empire of evil. In my opinion, if you buy into this, you’re being played for a chump.
I’ve pulled three key paragraphs from the Department of Justice press release on the plot:
Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran; Carlisle Rivera, also known as Pop, 49, of Brooklyn, New York; and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, New York, were charged today in a criminal complaint in connection with their alleged involvement in a plot to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York. Rivera was arrested in Brooklyn, New York, and Loadholt was arrested in Staten Island, New York, yesterday. Shakeri remains at large and is believed to reside in Iran. Rivera and Loadholt made their initial appearance in the Southern District of New York yesterday and were ordered detained pending trial. . . .
Shakeri is an IRGC asset residing in Tehran, Iran. Shakeri immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported in or about 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction. In recent months, Shakeri has used a network of criminal associates he met in prison in the United States to supply the IRGC with operatives to conduct surveillance and assassinations of IRGC targets. Two members of Shakeri’s network are his co-defendants, Loadholt and Rivera. At Shakeri’s instruction, Loadholt and Rivera have spent months surveilling a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin residing in the United States (Victim-1). Victim-1 is an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime and has been the target of multiple prior plots for kidnapping and/or murder directed by the Government of Iran. In exchange for Shakeri’s promise of $100,000, Rivera and Loadholt repeatedly sought to locate Victim-1 for murder. . . .
In addition, according to statements made by Shakeri in recorded interviews with law enforcement agents, the IRGC has also tasked Shakeri with carrying out other assassinations against U.S. and Israeli citizens located in the United States. In particular, Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump. During the interview, Shakeri claimed he did not intend to propose a plan to kill Trump within the timeframe set by the IRGC. He also stated he was tasked with surveilling two Jewish American citizens residing in New York City and offered $500,000 by an IRGC official for the murder of either victim. He was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka.
Here are some of the red flags I see. Farhad, who was born in Afghanistan (not Iran) in 1973, came to the United States as a child. Hmmm, what happened in 1979? Oh yeah, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Anyone want to wager that Farhad’s parents left Afghanistan then and fled to the United States? That means that Farhad came to the United States when he was six or seven. He grew up here and went astray. Got locked up in prison for 14 years, starting in 1994 (I think), and was deported in 2008. To where? Afghanistan? Iran? Doesn’t say.
Any chance the FBI approached him and recruited him as a Confidential Informant aka CI? We don’t know. What is revealed in the indictment is that there three “co-conspirators” — i.e. CC-1, CC-2 and CC-3 — who have not been indicted. Odds are that CC-3 may also be an asset of either the CIA, DEA or the FBI. According to the press release, Farhad met CC-1, Rivera and Loadholt in prison. Staying with me?
Ok. Farhad gets deported to some country. We don’t know if it was Afghanistan or Iran. Maybe some other paradise. Anyway, according to the indictment, Shakeri and CC-1 hook up in Sri Lanka and are busted for narcotics trafficking.
c. Years later, on or about January 22 , 2019, following their release from U.S. custody, CC-1 and SHAKERI were arrested by the Sri Lanka Police Narcotics Bureau (“SLPRB”) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in connection with the seizure of approximately 92 kilograms of heroin.
So, are they put in the slammer in Sri Lanka or do they cut a deal with a USG entity, i.e. DEA, to provide intel on the source of the heroin? I think that is highly likely.
The indictment is stingy with facts. The next thing we learn is that Farhad Shakeri, a convicted thief and drug trafficker, somehow finds a job in the Iranian oil and gas industry. Yeah, that makes sense, Iran is real keen on importing Afghan citizens with a history of heroin trafficking (sarcasm fully intended). And then, wonder of wonders, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard reaches out to Farhad and asks him to put a hit on an Iranian in the US that reportedly stole $250,000 from Iran.
And how do we know this? The FBI called up Farhad, who reportedly is in Tehran, and Farhad gave up the story, at least most of it. Let me suggest an alternative. The alleged IRGC operative, who happens to be named Solemani, could have been a US intel plant instructed to make the approach to Farhad in order to create a criminal conspiracy promoting the idea that Iran is financing hit teams in the United States.
Oh, one more thing. The Iranians want to kill Trump. Therefore, this is proof that Iran had in place an active plot to murder Donald.
The big tell for me is the arrest in Sri Lanka for trying to do a heroin deal and the fact that Shakeri did any hard time in a Sri Lankan prison. I believe this was some kind of intel op.
For what purpose? I can suggest two ideas, neither mutually exclusive. First, the FBI orchestrated this and broke the story in order to try to convince Trump that the FBI really is not a bunch of bad guys. Second, the FBI is part of a broader Deep State effort to paint Iran as an enemy we must attack. Regardless of motive, the story the public is being told in the criminal indictment is fetid male bovine excrement.
Here’s my interview with Tom Luongo:
Reprinted with permission from Sonar21.
