Pakistani man convicted of plotting to kill Trump over death of Iranian commander | Trump administration
A Pakistani man has been convicted of plotting to kill Donald Trump and other prominent US politicians on Iran’s orders two years ago.
Asif Merchant was accused of trying to recruit people in the United States in a plot to target Trump and others in retaliation for the 2020 killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani during Trump’s first term as president.
Federal prosecutors said targets in the 2024 plan also included then-president Joe Biden and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination that year.
In the statement made by the US Department of Justice, it was stated that Merchant was convicted of “murder for hire and attempting to commit a terrorist act that transcends national borders” on the instructions of Iranian authorities.
The trial in New York City began last week, days before Trump ordered a joint attack on Iran with Israel in what has become the region’s biggest war in years.
Merchant admitted participating in the plot by Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), but said he did so reluctantly to protect his family in Tehran.
Merchant said he was never ordered to kill a specific person, but that his Iranian handler named three men during talks in the Iranian capital.
Law enforcement foiled the plan before any attack could occur. The Justice Department said Merchant reported the activities of a person he contacted in April 2024 to assist in the conspiracy and became a confidential informant. The trader was arrested that year and pleaded not guilty.
The Revolutionary Guard has a central role in Iran through its combination of military and economic power and intelligence network. Tehran has denied accusations that it targeted Trump or other US officials.
Since Saturday, US and Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and injured thousands more, according to Iran’s ambassador to the UN. Many senior Iranian leaders were killed, including religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The US military said six soldiers were killed in an attack on a facility in Kuwait, while at least 10 Israeli civilians were killed.
