Pakistani national convicted in US of planning assassinations of senior Iranian-led politicians
A Pakistani man was convicted Friday of planning to assassinate President Donald Trump and other U.S. political figures two years ago at the behest of Iran, the Justice Department said.
Asif Merchant was accused of trying to recruit people in the United States as part of a plan to target Trump and others in retaliation for Washington’s assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020, when Trump was in his first term.
Targets of the 2024 plot also included then-President Joe Biden and Nikki Haley, who ran against Trump that year for the Republican presidential nomination, federal prosecutors said.
Merchant was convicted of “murder for hire and attempting to commit an act of terrorism that transcends national borders” directed by Iranian authorities, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The trial in New York’s Brooklyn borough began last week, days before Trump ordered an attack on Iran, carried out with Israel, that escalated into the largest war in the region in years.
Read: Pakistan urges Iran to avoid Gulf attacks
Merchant admitted to participating in the plot with Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, 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 people during conversations in the Iranian capital.
Law enforcement thwarted the plan before an attack occurred. A person Merchant contacted in April 2024 to help him with the conspiracy reported his activities and became a confidential informant, the DOJ said. Merchant was arrested and pleaded not guilty that year.
The Revolutionary Guards play a central role in Iran, with a combination of military and economic power and an intelligence network. Tehran has denied accusations that it targeted Trump or other US officials.
US and Israeli attacks since Saturday have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and injured thousands, according to Iran’s ambassador to the UN. Many prominent Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have been killed.
The US military said six of its service members were killed in a strike on a facility in Kuwait, while Israeli tallies show at least 10 civilians were killed across Israel.
