Pakistani national Asif Merchant convicted of plotting to assassinate President Trump. A federal jury found the 47-year-old guilty of attempting to recruit operatives in the US to kill Trump, former President Biden, and Nikki Haley on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Prosecutors allege the plot was retaliation for the 2020 killing of IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani. Merchant, a trained IRGC operative, entered the US multiple times starting in 2023 to find recruits and hire assassins. The conspiracy unraveled when an acquaintance he contacted in New York alerted authorities and became a confidential informant. Merchant faces life imprisonment after meeting with undercover officials posing as hitmen and paying five thousand dollars toward the operation.