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Miranda Devine: As Operation Epic Fury rages, the Iranian regime’s longstanding plot to kill Trump was confirmed

The reality of the Iran war was brought home on Friday in a Brooklyn courtroom when a jury convicted Asif Merchant for plotting with the Iranian government to assassinate President Trump and other American politicians.

After a week-long trial that was barely noticed as “Operation Epic Fury” dominated headlines, the Pakistani garment trader, 47, was found guilty of terrorism and murder for hire.

Prosecutors said Merchant was “a trained operative of the Iranian government’s global terrorist force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps” who received training in “tradecraft, including countersurveillance” and repeatedly traveled to Iran to meet with his “IRGC handler.”

He was sent to the US in April 2024 to “sow mayhem and murder,” and tried to recruit “Mafia” members to steal documents, stage a protest and arrange the murder of politicians including Trump, then-President Joe Biden, and presidential candidate Nikki Haley. But “law enforcement foiled the plot,” according to the Justice Department.

“This was not the first attempt by Iran to harm our citizens on US soil,” said FBI Director Kash Patel.

“The other efforts also failed.”

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Patel likely was referring to Iranian plots to assassinate former Trump officials like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo and kidnap or harm Iranian-American dissidents, including journalist Masih Alinejad — the target of multiple foiled assassination and kidnapping attempts in........

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