Transcript of US charges man over alleged Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump | BBC News

We've got some breaking news from New York and an alleged plot on Donald Trump's life. Let's go back to Washington and Katrina Perry. Katrina, just bring us up to date. This news is just breaking.

Yes, Sarah, this is just coming to us in the last couple of minutes from the US Department of Justice here, where they said they're announcing a murder for hire and related charges against an Iranian asset and two local operatives in New York. They say that they have charged three individuals, Fahad Shaqari, aged 51 from Iran, Carlil Rivera, also known as POP, 49 years of age from Brooklyn, New York, and Jonathan Loadholt, 36-year-old of Staten Island, New York. They've been charged on a criminal complaint in connection with what's described as their alleged involvement in a plot to murder a US citizen of Iranian origin in New York. Two of the individuals were arrested in New York yesterday. Sarah and Load Holt. The third individual, Fahad Shahkari, it says, remains at large and is believed to reside in Iran at the moment. The other two individuals have appeared in court and have been detained pending their trial. A statement from the US attorney general here, Merrick Garland, says that the Justice Department has charged what they describe as an asset of the Iranian regime. That's that individual, Fahad Shaqari, who it says was tasked by Iran to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran's assassination plots against its targets.

They say those targets include the President-elect, Donald Trump. They say they've also charged and arrested those other two individuals I mentioned there, Carlyle Rivera and Jonathan Loadhalt, who it says the Justice Department is alleging were recruited as part of a network ordered by the Iranian regime to silence and kill, is how Merrick Garland, the attorney general, is describing on US soil an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of the regime. That's in addition to the plot it says it has uncovered against the President-elect, Donald Trump. And Merrick Ireland, the attorney general, says, We will not stand for the Iranian regime's attempts to endanger the American people and America's national security. The FBI Director, Christopher Ray, has also made some remarks in relation to this. This is all just coming to us in the last couple of minutes. He's described those charges as, he says, The charges announced today expose Iran's continued brazen attempts to target US citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, he says, a designated foreign terrorist organization has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down, he describes it, Americans on US soil.

The FBI director is saying that simply won't be tolerated. He says it's thanks to the hard work of the FBI that their deadly schemes were disrupted. He says the FBI is committing its full resources to protect US citizens from Iran, or, he says, any other adversary who targets Americans. That statement continues there saying, Actors directed by the government of Iran continue to target US citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump on US soil and abroad, and this has to stop. Some very serious allegations there. Those three individuals facing charges, two of them in New York who were arrested yesterday, one in Brooklyn, one in Staten Island. They're now in custody. That third individual that the US authorities here are describing as an asset of the Iranian regime remains at large, and the US officials believe him to be in Iran at the moment.

Okay, Katrina Perry, thank you for that update.