Iranian agent found guilty in Trump assassination plot

Federal court convicts Pakistani-born man over Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump and other senior US officials.

By World Israel News Staff

A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted an Iranian agent last week over a plot to assassinate President Donald Trump and other American officials.

On Friday, Asif Raza Merchant was found guilty on terrorism charges for attempting to hire assassins to kill Trump in 2024, and paying undercover law enforcement officers thousands of dollars for various political killings and to stage a protest.

A Pakistani national, Merchant arrived in the US in 2024 after receiving training from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Working on behalf of the IRGC, Merchant was tasked with orchestrating a number of high-profile political murders in the United States.

According to prosecutors, the plot was devised by the IRGC in retaliation for the 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, by the US military.

Merchant claimed during his trial that he was blackmailed by the IRGC, which had threatened his relatives residing in Tehran.

His handler suggested a number of targets for possible assassination, Merchant said, including Trump, then-President Joe Biden, and former governor and ex-US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

“This man landed on American soil hoping to kill President Trump — instead, he was met with the might of American law enforcement,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Department of Justice will remain ever-vigilant to protect Americans, prosecute terrorists, and halt acts of terrorism before they happen.”

Merchant was first recruited by the IRGC in late 2022 or early 2023, prosecutors said. He was first sent to the United States to recruit agents for a new terror cell.

He entered the country again in 2024, with plans to recruit members of a local mafia to “steal documents, stage a protest, and to arrange the murder of one of three specific US government officials and politicians,” the Justice Department said.

After arriving in the US in 2024, Merchant contacted an acquaintance in New York City, Ali Nadeem, seeking his assistance in establishing an operational terror cell.

However, Ali notified authorities of Merchant’s plans.

Working with Ali, Merchant arranged to meet with several “hitmen” – who were in fact undercover law enforcement officials.

Merchant paid the agents $5,000 in cash advances for their missions – including the political killings.

On July 12, 2024, Merchant was arrested as he attempted to leave the country.

Following his conviction, Merchant could face up to life in prison.

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