Federal prosecutors have charged an alleged Iran-linked terrorist with plotting attacks across Europe and North America, while new reports claim the suspect also discussed assassinating Ivanka Trump. The alleged plot was reportedly in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s 2020 killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani. Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a 32-year-old Iraqi national, was arrested in Turkey earlier this month before being extradited to the United States, where he now faces multiple federal terrorism charges.
"After Qasem was killed, he went around telling people ‘we need to kill Ivanka to burn down the house of Trump the way he burned down our house’" — Entifadh Qanbar, Former Iraqi Embassy Military Attaché.
While the Justice Department’s official criminal complaint does not specifically name Ivanka Trump, sources familiar with the investigation told the New York Post that Al-Saadi allegedly made repeated statements about targeting the Trump family after Soleimani’s death. Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike ordered by President Trump in January 2020.
According to former Iraqi embassy military attaché Entifadh Qanbar, Al-Saadi allegedly stated, "After Qasem was killed, he went around telling people ‘we need to kill Ivanka to burn down the house of Trump the way he burned down our house’." The same report claims Al-Saadi allegedly obtained blueprints of Ivanka Trump’s Florida home and posted online threats targeting both her and her husband, Jared Kushner. One alleged message reportedly included a map of their gated community alongside a warning directed at Americans, stating, "I say to the Americans look at this picture and know that neither your palaces nor the Secret Service will protect you. We are currently in the stage of surveillance and analysis. I told you, our revenge is a matter of time."
Federal prosecutors have identified Al-Saadi as a senior member of Kata’ib Hizballah, a militia closely aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Authorities accuse him of helping coordinate or support nearly 20 terror attacks and attempted attacks targeting Americans and Jewish institutions across Europe and North America. Among the incidents referenced in court filings are the firebombing of a Bank of New York Mellon office in Amsterdam, a shooting at the U.S. consulate in Toronto, and attacks targeting synagogues and Jewish sites in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Counterterrorism analysts interviewed by the Post stated their belief that Al-Saadi maintained close ties to Soleimani and broader Iranian-backed militia networks operating throughout the Middle East. Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was previously kidnapped in Iraq by Kata’ib Hizballah, reportedly described Al-Saadi as deeply connected within Iran-backed militant circles, according to Trending Politics.
The case arrives amid rising tensions involving Iran, Israel, and the U.S. American officials continue to issue warnings about potential retaliatory attacks by Iranian proxy groups. Al-Saadi is currently being held in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn as federal prosecutors proceed with the case. If the allegations are proven true, they would represent one of the most direct known threats against Trump family members tied to Iranian proxy networks since Soleimani’s killing nearly six years ago. The ongoing investigation and legal proceedings are expected to shed further light on the extent of the alleged plots and the networks involved.
