Man charged in Trump Iranian assassination plot convicted in NYC
As the U.S. strikes Iran, a jury has concluded that a Pakistani man is guilty of trying to assassinate Trump on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…
The Pakistani national charged with attempting to organize an assassination plot against now-President Donald Trump on behalf of Iranian intelligence has been found guilty of murder-for-hire and terrorism charges following a jury trial in Brooklyn.
The federal jury took just two hours to convict Asif Merchant, 47, after testimony from a confidential informant, two undercover FBI agents who posed as Mafia contract killers, and the defendant himself, according to the New York Daily News.
Federal prosecutors have alleged that two Iranian-linked plots to assassinate then-candidate Donald Trump — both allegedly linked to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — were launched in 2024 as Iran sought to meddle in the election to stop Trump’s return to the White House, with one of the trials kicking off in late February just days before U.S. and Israeli strikes commenced against the Iranian regime last Saturday.
The Justice Department filed charges against Pakistani national Asif Merchant and against Afghan national Farhad Shakeri for their alleged roles in Iranian-backed assassination plots. The former defendant’s somewhat convoluted plot targeted Trump, while the latter defendant’s apparently more sophisticated plot was also aimed at the president.
Shaker I remains at large in Iran. Merchant pleaded not guilty, and the trial against him began last week shortly before the initiation of Operation Epic Fury last Saturday. A jury found him guilty following a roughly week-long trial in New York City.
The Iranian assassination plots are detailed in press releases and court filings by the Justice Department and the FBI and, while prosecutors have not linked the Iranian efforts to the other assassination efforts against Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally in July 2024 and at his Florida golf course in September 2024, the Iran-origin murder-for-hire allegations show the multitude of threats against Trump’s life during the 2024 presidential campaign.
The cases also highlight the lengths to which the Iranian government was seemingly willing to go to attempt to keep Trump out of the Oval Office for a second term.
The IRGC leader who was allegedly behind the assassination plots aimed at Trump in 2024 has been killed amidst U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday.
Trump assassination plotter admitted to working for the IRGC
Merchant admitted to working for the IRGC when he took the stand during the trial this week.
The New York Times reported that Merchant “testified on Wednesday that he had worked with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to devise his scheme, which included hiring hit men.”
The outlet recounted that the Pakistani national “said that he had been forced to go along with the plot to protect his family in Tehran from the Revolutionary Guards Corps.” Merchant has two wives — one in Pakistan and one in Iran.
“I was not wanting to do this so willingly,” Merchant reportedly said on the stand.
The outlet reported that Merchant testified that his cousin Husnain linked him up with the IRGC, and that he began working with IRGC official Mehrdad Yousef in late 2022.
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(TLB) PUBLISHED THIS ARTICLE WITH PERMISSION OF JOHN SOLOMON, Just the News
Header featured image (edited) credit: Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / article tease open file Emphasis added by (TLB)
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