Iranian operative convicted in 2024 plot to kill President Trump
USA TODAY
Asif Merchant, 47, a Pakistani national trained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was found guilty of murder for hire.
A federal jury has convicted an Iranian operative of taking part in a 2024 terrorism attempt and plot to assassinate President Donald Trump, well before the war in Iran.
Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national also known as Asif Raza Merchant, was found guilty of murder for hire and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
Merchant, 47, was trained by Iran’s global terrorist force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which he admitted at trial dispatched him to the United States to steal documents and arrange for political assassinations. According to a Justice Department complaint filed in 2024, Merchant told a source the targets would be people hurting Pakistan and the Muslim world, "not normal people.”
However, the plot was foiled by law enforcement before any attack could be carried out.
“Iran’s terrorist regime sent Asif Merchant here to sow mayhem and murder,” said Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a U.S. Justice Department news release. “Thanks to the vigilance of our law enforcement partners, his scheme ended in failure. Today, with Merchant’s conviction, that failure is complete.”
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