iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
A federal jury in Brooklyn has found a Pakistani man guilty of taking part in a plot linked to Iran to assassinate President Donald Trump, following a trial that unfolded at a time when Washington and Tehran are already locked in an open conflict.
The defendant, 47-year-old Asif Merchant, was convicted on Friday, March 6, of attempting to hire hitmen to carry out the killing of Trump and possibly other American political figures.
Prosecutors said the plan was directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Merchant now faces the possibility of life in prison when he is sentenced.
Authorities said the assassination plan was meant to be carried out during the 2024 presidential campaign but was thwarted when a Pakistani man Merchant approached for help turned out to be an informant working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The agency’s director, Kash Patel, said investigators and their partners were able to stop the plot and noted that previous attempts by Iran to target Americans on U.S. soil had also failed.
Merchant was arrested in July 2024 while attempting to leave the country and was formally charged the following month.
The case gained additional attention this week after U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Iranian figure believed to have masterminded the operation had been killed by U.S. forces, though no identity was provided.
The trial began last week in federal court in Brooklyn before Judge Eric Komitee.
During testimony, Merchant admitted he participated in the scheme but said he acted after Iranian authorities threatened his family living in Iran. He told the court he had received spy training from the IRGC and had been given three potential targets: Trump, former president Joe Biden, and former presidential contender Nikki Haley.
Prosecutors led by Nina Gupta said Merchant began working with the IRGC in Pakistan around 2022 or 2023 and later traveled to the United States to recruit people for the group. Investigators said he used a clothing business as cover for his activities.
According to the prosecution, Merchant later returned to the U.S. with a new assignment to find criminal contacts who could steal documents, organize protests, and ultimately assassinate one of the targeted politicians. He contacted a New York acquaintance, Nadeem Ali, for assistance, unaware that Ali was cooperating with the FBI.
Undercover agents posing as hired killers then entered the operation. Prosecutors said Merchant handed them a $5,000 down payment and outlined the assassination plan on a napkin during a meeting in a New York hotel room. Investigators also found that he had searched online for locations where Trump was holding campaign rallies.
In a separate and unrelated incident, Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania a day after Merchant’s arrest in 2024, when a gunman fired a shot that grazed his ear.
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