The New York Post reported that an Iraqi national, who was arrested in Turkey on May 15 due to his alleged involvement in 18 attacks across Europe and North America, plotted the assassination of U.S President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump.
The suspect, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, was allegedly trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to seek revenge for the 2020 U.S drone strikes launched by Trump in his first term which killed Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.
According to the New York Post, Al-Saadi had a blueprint of Ivanka Trump’s Florida home and posted threats online, warning Americans that “neither your palaces nor the Secret Service will protect you”. Former Iraqi diplomat Entifadh Qanbar also told the outlet that the suspect frequently talked about killing President Trump’s daughter “to burn down the house of Trump the way he burned down our house”.
Turkey handed over Al-Saadi to the United States after he was arrested for alleged firebombings, shootings, stabbings, and attacks on Jewish sites and American diplomatic facilities.
The newspaper said he operated on behalf of the Iran-affiliated Kata’ib Hezbollah and remained close with the IRGC. Researcher and former hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov reportedly said Al-Saadi had close ties to Soleimani and his successor Esmail Qaani.
Investigators accused Al-Saadi of using an Iraqi service passport and a travel agency to move between countries and work with terror cells. He frequently posted on social media, sharing selfies from European landmarks and images containing weaponry.
Al-Saadi is currently in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, according to the New York Post.
Trump’s war efforts have also seemingly affected his commitments towards other members of his family, with the President being unable to make it to his son Donald Trump Jr’s wedding due to uncertainties regarding a fresh round of military strikes against the Islamic Republic.
