According to Daily Mail, the recent exposure of a plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump has escalated tensions between the United States and Iran.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan-born individual now residing in Tehran, with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump. U.S. authorities uncovered the plot during the critical U.S. election period and directly linked it to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

U.S. authorities accuse Shakeri, who has past criminal ties in the U.S., of accepting IRGC funding to surveil and eliminate Trump in early October. Officials describe the plan as a state-sponsored assassination attempt.

Background of Iran-U.S. Tensions

The IRGC, known for its expansive influence both within Iran and in Western countries like the UK and the US, is often characterized as a major arm of Iran’s intelligence and guerrilla warfare operations.

This attempted assassination is seen as potentially an act of war, given that Trump was a presidential candidate at the time. His administration had previously imposed severe sanctions on Iran, targeting the nation’s critical oil industry.

The FBI has cited revenge for the January 2020 U.S. airstrike, which killed General Qassem Soleimani, as the primary motive behind the plot. Soleimani was a prominent figure in Iran, known for his role in orchestrating attacks against U.S. forces and managing various Iranian proxy networks.

Iran's History of Using Proxies for Assassinations

In 2018, authorities implicated an Iranian diplomat based in Austria in a plan to bomb a rally in Paris, suggesting a pattern of Iran using proxies, including criminals, for overseas assassination attempts.

The British MI5 director reported that, since 2022, the UK has thwarted 20 plots orchestrated by Iran, which posed threats to its citizens, highlighting the extensive reach of Iranian state actors.

Reports indicate that Iran promised Shakeri, who spent 14 years in a New York jail for robbery before returning to Tehran in 2008, substantial funds for the assassination, underscoring Iran's willingness to invest heavily in such operations.

Responses and Potential Consequences

A former staffer quoted by Politico mentioned that reimposing sanctions would be a "day one foreign policy priority" should Trump win the election, underscoring the high stakes of the political tensions.

The director of British MI5 has noted that Iranian state actors frequently employ a wide range of proxies, from international drug traffickers to low-level criminals, to carry out their geopolitical agenda.

Trump’s potential return to the White House has fueled speculation about how the U.S. might respond to this direct threat. Some analysts suggest that the U.S. might deploy naval and air power already stationed near Iran, signaling a possible military retaliation.

Meanwhile, the international community watches closely, as any aggressive response could escalate into a broader conflict, drawing in other global powers and destabilizing an already tense geopolitical landscape.