Iran-linked operative convicted in foiled US assassination plot
A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Asif Merchant, a 48-year-old trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), of murder-for-hire and attempting an act of terrorism in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate a US government official on American soil, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said on Friday.
Merchant traveled to the United States in April 2024 to meet individuals he believed were contract killers, who were actually undercover US law enforcement officers, according to court filings and a Department of Justice statement. Prosecutors said he was tasked by the IRGC to recruit hitmen to target one of three senior US officials. The plot was disrupted before any attack could occur.
“This man landed on American soil hoping to kill President Trump — instead, he was met with the might of American law enforcement,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in the DOJ statement. Merchant now faces a potential life sentence at a future sentencing hearing.
