BROOKLYN, NY – A federal jury today convicted Asif Merchant, also known as “Asif Raza Merchant,” of murder for hire and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries. Merchant was a trained operative of the Iranian government’s global terrorist force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (“IRGC”). He admitted at trial that in 2024 the IRGC sent him to the United States to arrange for political assassinations, but law enforcement foiled the plot before any attack could be carried out. Merchant arrived in the United States in April of 2024, met with purported hitmen in June—who were in fact undercover U.S. law enforcement officers in New York—and was placed under arrest before leaving the country in July of 2024. Merchant faces up to life in prison.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice