A Pakistani national accused of conspiring with Iranian operatives to assassinate US President Donald Trump has been found guilty by a federal jury in New York.
The verdict against 47-year-old Asif Merchant came from a federal court in Brooklyn on Friday. Prosecutors said he tried to hire contract killers to murder Trump and possibly other American political leaders as part of a plan linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
The trial concluded at a time when tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated sharply, with the United States and Israel currently engaged in military strikes against Iran.
FBI informant helped foil alleged assassination plan
According to investigators, the plan dates back to 2024 during the US presidential campaign. Authorities say it failed because a man Merchant approached for help was secretly cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
FBI director Kash Patel said the agency and its partners intervened before the plan could move forward. “The FBI and our partners stopped that deadly plot,” Patel said after the verdict. He added that attempts linked to Iran targeting people in the US had been thwarted before.
Merchant was arrested in July 2024 while preparing to leave the United States and was formally charged the following month. A federal jury later convicted him of attempting to arrange a contract killing and terrorism-related offences.
During proceedings, Merchant admitted he had taken part in the scheme but said he acted under pressure. He told jurors that Iranian operatives had threatened his family, leaving him with what he described as “no other options”.
Court documents showed that Merchant had allegedly received training from the IRGC and had been tasked with identifying potential targets. Apart from Trump, he told the court that two other names had been mentioned – Joe Biden and former Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley.
Prosecutors said Merchant travelled to the United States to recruit people for the operation. To conceal the activity, he reportedly used a clothing business as a cover.
Investigators said he contacted a New York acquaintance, identified in court as Nadeem Ali, to assist him. Ali alerted the FBI, which then deployed undercover agents posing as hired assassins.
According to the prosecution, Merchant handed over a USD 5,000 advance payment to the agents and outlined the plan on a napkin inside a New York hotel room. In one recorded meeting presented in court, he allegedly told them: “Maybe you can, say, kill someone… maybe it’s some political person.”
Prosecutors also told the jury that Merchant searched online for locations where Trump was holding campaign rallies.
In an unrelated incident shortly after Merchant’s arrest in July 2024, another man attempted to shoot Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania. The bullet narrowly missed him and grazed his ear.
Judge Eric Komitee, who presided over the trial, noted the unusual timing of the proceedings given the ongoing conflict involving Iran. “This trial is happening in interesting times,” he told the court.
Trial unfolds amid rising tensions with Iran
Separately, US officials have said that an Iranian figure believed to have masterminded the plot was killed in a recent American military operation, although the individual was not publicly identified.
The court proceedings themselves had been scheduled months earlier, long before the current conflict between the United States and Iran escalated.
Merchant, a former banker, had personal ties to both Pakistan and Iran, prosecutors said. He reportedly had a wife in Pakistan and another in Iran, where he travelled frequently and where investigators say he was recruited by the IRGC.
The jury’s verdict comes at a time when the war in West Asia has entered its seventh day, with both sides continuing military strikes and showing little sign of stepping back.