The trial for yet another criminal plotting an assassination targeting President Donald Trump flew under the radar this week, until his conviction on Friday in federal court.

Yes, you are reading that right. There was a man who came to the United States with the intent to plan the assassination of President Trump – and he was backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran. You know, the very IRGC whose bases the United States and Israel are currently bombing the crap out of. Fortunately, this guy was intercepted by the FBI and wasn’t that smart.

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.

Shakeri 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.

Merchant’s plot was still taken very seriously by the FBI, and yes, he testified on his own behalf. Again, he’s not very bright, and his lawyers let him testify.

As set forth in trial exhibits and testimony, including the defendant’s own testimony, Merchant began working for the IRGC in Pakistan in late 2022 or early 2023, when he received training in tradecraft, including countersurveillance. Later in 2023, he was sent to the United States to look for potential IRGC recruits who could stay behind in the United States. Merchant testified that he knew that the IRGC was a designated terrorist organization. Throughout this period, Merchant repeatedly traveled to Iran to meet with his IRGC handler.

Merchant testified that in 2024, he was sent back to the United States with a new mission: to recruit “Mafia” members to steal documents, stage a protest, and arrange the murder of one of three specific U.S. government officials and politicians. To that end, Merchant contacted an acquaintance in New York who he thought could help him with his scheme. That person, Nadeem Ali, instead reported Merchant’s conduct to law enforcement and became a confidential source.

In early June, Merchant met Ali in New York and explained his assassination plot. Merchant told Ali that he had an ongoing opportunity for him and then made a “finger gun” motion with his hand, indicating that the opportunity was related to a killing. Merchant further stated that the intended victims would be “targeted here,” in the United States. Merchant instructed Ali to arrange meetings with individuals whom Merchant could hire to carry out these actions. Merchant explained that his plot involved multiple criminal schemes: (1) stealing documents or USB drives from a target’s home; (2) planning a protest; and (3) killing a politician or government official.

In mid-June, Merchant met with the purported hitmen, who were in fact undercover U.S. law enforcement officers (the UCs) in New York. Merchant advised the UCs that he was looking for three services from them: theft of documents, arranging protests at political rallies and for them to kill a “political person.” Merchant stated that the hitmen would receive instructions on who to kill after Merchant had departed the United States.

Throughout this period, Merchant performed internet searches for the locations of political rallies and sent reports back to his IRGC handler regarding security protocols at rallies.

Merchant then began arranging means to obtain $5,000 in cash to pay the UCs as an advance payment for the assassination, which he eventually received with assistance from an individual overseas. On June 21, Merchant met with the UCs in New York and paid them the $5,000 advance. After Merchant paid the $5,000 to the UCs, one of the UCs stated, “now we’re bonded,” to which Merchant responded “yes.” The UC then stated “Now we know we’re going forward. We’re doing this,” to which Merchant responded “Yes, absolutely.”

Merchant subsequently made flight arrangements and planned to leave the United States on Friday, July 12, 2024. On that day, law enforcement agents placed Merchant under arrest before he could leave the country.

His defense lawyers apparently tried to use both his concern for his families – yes, he has two wives, one in Pakistan and one in Iran – and his sheer incompetence to prove that he was too dumb to be hiring assassins as an IRGC agent. That he was picked up the day before the Butler rally seems to be an incredible coincidence. The jury disagreed with the defense, and now Merchant is looking at life in federal prison.

Asif Merchant showed up to the U.S. looking to assassinate President Trump and other government officials. This @FBI didn’t forget.

Today: Justice. https://t.co/WoiCbIeuqC

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) March 7, 2026

Wait, I’m pretty sure we were told by a certain subset of political commentators that Iran had never ever had designs on taking out President Trump, and as a result, the strikes on Iran could not possibly be justified. Well, here we are. And remember, the investigation and arrest took place under the Biden administration, lest anyone think that the Trump DOJ cooked up this case.

It should come as no surprise that the Islamic regime of Iran would have loved to destabilize the United States with a political assassination during a presidential election. The Iran regime has generally not been favorably looked upon by presidents, save Barack Obama (and his Iranian fanboy Ben Rhodes), and even Joe Biden paid lip service to scolding Iran. Donald Trump, however, has been openly antagonistic to Iran, withdrew from the Iran deal in his first term, bombed Iran’s nuclear sites last June, and is now engaged in Operation Epic Fury. The mullahs consider Trump their personal enemy, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist (besides, Iran’s lost several of them) to know why. They wanted a nuclear bomb. Trump tried negotiating with them. They refused. And now they are flailing around, shooting drones and missiles toward other Gulf countries, while rapidly running low on ordnance and ships.

Remember how we were told that Iranian sleeper cells might be activated after Operation Epic Fury started? The conviction of Asif Merchant proves that Iranian agents were already here. And odds are good that he, inept as he was, wasn’t the only one.

Featured image via succo on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license