A Pakistani man has been convicted in the United States of plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump and other senior American political figures in retaliation for the 2020 killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday.
Asif Merchant was found guilty of attempting to recruit individuals inside the United States to carry out attacks targeting Trump and other politicians, including then-President Joe Biden and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, federal prosecutors said.
The Justice Department said Merchant was convicted of murder-for-hire and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, alleging the plan was directed by Iran.
Prosecutors said the plot was conceived as retaliation for the U.S. drone strike ordered by Trump in 2020 that killed Soleimani, a senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Merchant told the court he had joined the plan under pressure from Iranian operatives to protect his family in Tehran. He testified that his handler mentioned three potential targets during meetings in the Iranian capital but said he was never given a direct order to kill a specific individual.
Authorities said the plot was disrupted before any attack could take place. A person Merchant contacted in April 2024 to help carry out the plan alerted law enforcement and later became a confidential informant.
Merchant was arrested later that year and pleaded not guilty before being convicted following a trial that began last week in Brooklyn, New York.
The case unfolded as tensions between Washington and Tehran escalated sharply, with the United States and Israel carrying out large-scale strikes on Iran in recent days in a conflict that has rapidly expanded across the region.
Iran has repeatedly denied accusations that it targeted Trump or other U.S. officials.
