ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Iranian foreign ministry on Saturday denied the United States’ claims that Tehran had tasked a network to assassinate American citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, labelling the accusations as a “disgusting conspiracy.”

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) on Friday announced that an asset of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and two American citizens he had employed had been charged in a criminal complaint in connection with their alleged involvement in a plot to kill an American journalist of Iranian origin, who has been an outspoken critic of the Islamic regime.

 “The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump,” read the statement from the DoJ.

Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry, rejected the accusations as “completely baseless.”

“The repetition of this claim at the current time is a disgusting conspiracy by the Zionist and anti-Iranian circles to complicate the issues between Washington and Tehran,” said Baghaei.

The DoJ in September indicted a Pakistani man with alleged ties to Tehran with attempting to kill American politicians and officials on US soil as part of a murder-for-hire scheme. The US government subsequently increased security for Trump and other officials.

The Iranian spokesperson stressed that Tehran would use all legal and legitimate means “to vindicate the rights of the Iranian nation.”

Tehran has repeatedly threatened to retaliate for the Israeli attack which targeted several military sites across Iran in late October, killing at least four Iranian soldiers. Both the US and Israel have warned against responding and starting a new round of escalations.

Following Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections, Baghaei said on Thursday that the American elections represent "an opportunity to review and reconsider the wrong approaches of the past," adding that Tehran has had "very bitter" experiences with the policies of previous US administrations.