A federal jury convicted Asif Raza Merchant, a Pakistani national who trained with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, of initiating a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate U.S. politicians, including President Donald Trump, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Merchant confessed during the trial that the Iranian group, which is a U.S.-designated terror organization, dispatched him to the country to steal documents and to arrange the assassinations of politicians, the Justice Department said on Friday.
Law enforcement prevented the attacks before Merchant, who arrived in the country in April 2024, could carry them out. In June 2024, he met with undercover law enforcement officers, whom he thought were hitmen, in New York. When he tried to leave the country in July 2024, he was arrested.
Merchant now faces up to life in prison, the Justice Department said.
“This man landed on American soil hoping to kill President Trump. Instead, he was met with the might of American law enforcement,” stated Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general.
Kash Patel, the FBI director, said that “this was not the first attempt by Iran to harm our citizens on U.S. soil. The other efforts also failed.”
