Photo: Alamy
A federal jury has convicted an Iranian intelligence operative from Pakistan who attempted to recruit people in the United States to carry out a plot to assassinate President Donald Trump and other American officials.
Asif Merchant was found guilty Friday of murder for hire and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, according to a Department of Justice news release. He faces up to life in prison.
Prosecutors said targets in the 2024 plot included President Trump, who was running for a second term in the presidential election. Other potential targets included then-President Joe Biden and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was then running for the Republican presidential nomination.
“This man landed on American soil hoping to kill President Trump, instead he was met with the might of American law enforcement,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will remain ever vigilant to protect Americans, prosecute terrorists, and halt acts of terrorism before they happen.”
Authorities said the plot was tied to Iran’s desire to retaliate for the 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, during President Trump’s first term.
Merchant admitted during the trial that the Revolutionary Guard sent him to the United States to arrange political assassinations and obtain documents. Law enforcement officials disrupted the operation before any attack could be carried out.
According to prosecutors, Merchant arrived in the United States in April 2024 and met with individuals he believed were hired killers in June. Those individuals were actually undercover U.S. law enforcement officers in New York. Merchant was arrested in July 2024 before he could leave the country.
Prosecutors said Merchant began working with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in late 2022 or early 2023 and received training in intelligence tradecraft, including countersurveillance techniques.
He was later sent to the United States to identify potential recruits. Merchant testified that he knew the Revolutionary Guard was designated as a terrorist organization and that he traveled back to Iran several times to meet with his handler.
