A federal jury convicted on March 6 Asif Merchant, a trained operative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iranian government’s global terrorist force, and was a murder-for-hire who attempted to commit an act of terrorism.
Merchant faces a sentence of life in prison.
“Merchant tried to hire someone to kill a politician or a U.S. government official, but the FBI and our partners stopped that deadly plot,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “This was not the first attempt by Iran to harm our citizens on U.S. soil; the other efforts also failed. Let this verdict serve as a reminder that the FBI is committed to detecting such threats and preventing acts of violence, and we will hold accountable anyone who tries to interfere with our democratic system.”
Merchant admitted at trial that the IRGC sent him to the United States to arrange for political assassinations and to steal documents. Merchant had been working for the IRGC in Pakistan beginning in late 2022 or early 2023, and traveled to the United States in 2023 to look for potential IRGC recruits.
In June 2024, Merchant met with undercover U.S. law enforcement officers posing as hitmen in New York and was arrested a month later.