ByYelena MandenbergNews ReporterHousnia Shams

The Mirror

Police have released the first photo of Carlisle Rivera, a 49-year-old New York man who was one of three operatives involved in a murder-for-hire scheme to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump.

Rivera, along with Jonathon Loadholt, 36, from Staten Island, faces charges including murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and money laundering conspiracy, allegedly on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The US Justice Department revealed on Friday that the duo was allegedly hired by Farhad Shakeri, a 51-year-old Iranian government operative, to track down and kill US citizen and Iranian human rights activist Masih Alinejad. He then ordered the other two to drop that and focus on assassinating Donald Trump.

Shakeri, who is currently at large and resides in Iran, was deported from the U.S. in 2008 after a robbery conviction and has since been accused of maintaining a criminal network in the US for Tehran's surveillance and assassination operations.

Additionally, Shakeri has been charged in relation to an alleged plot by Iran to assassinate Donald Trump before his potential re-election. Prosecutors claim that in September, an official from Iran's Revolutionary Guard instructed Shakeri to plan the surveillance and murder of Trump. Iran has dismissed these allegations as "completely baseless.'

According to the Justice Department, Rivera and Loadholt spent months surveilling Alinejad, exchanging messages and photos documenting their progress in the attempt to locate and execute her, reports the Express US.

In addition, according to statements made by Shakeri in recorded interviews with law enforcement agents, 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.

Shakeri, Rivera, and Loadholt have all been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

The plot, with the charges unsealed just days after Trump’s defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris, reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target U.S. government officials, including Trump, on U.S. soil.

Last summer, the Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot.

On Tuesday night Trump won the U.S. Presidency after destroying the 'blue wall." Trump won Texas and Florida - the two big prizes - along with the battleground states of North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.