An Iraqi national charged in a string of terrorism-related attacks across Europe and North America allegedly plotted to assassinate Ivanka Trump in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, according to sources who spoke with the New York Post.
The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, was arrested in Turkey earlier this month before being extradited to the United States, where federal prosecutors have charged him with multiple terrorism offenses.
While the Justice Department’s criminal case does not publicly mention Ivanka Trump, sources told the New York Post that Al-Saadi had privately vowed revenge against the Trump family after the 2020 drone strike that killed Soleimani in Baghdad.
“After Qasem was killed, he [Al-Saadi] went around telling people ‘we need to kill Ivanka to burn down the house of Trump the way he burned down our house,’” former Iraqi embassy military attaché Entifadh Qanbar told the outlet.
According to the Post’s sources, Al-Saadi allegedly obtained blueprints of Ivanka Trump’s Florida residence and posted online threats directed at the president’s daughter and her family. One post reportedly included a map of the gated community where Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner own a home.
“I say to the Americans look at this picture and know that neither your palaces nor the Secret Service will protect you,” one translated message allegedly read. “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, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia group aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Authorities accuse him of coordinating or supporting nearly 20 terror attacks and attempted attacks targeting Americans and Jewish sites in Europe and North America.
Among the attacks referenced in court filings were 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 institutions in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The Post also reported that officials and terrorism analysts believe Al-Saadi maintained close ties to Soleimani, the longtime commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force who was killed in a U.S. strike ordered by Trump in January 2020.
Elizabeth Tsurkov, a senior fellow at the New Lines Institute who was previously kidnapped in Iraq by Kata’ib Hizballah, told the outlet that Al-Saadi had deep connections inside Iran-backed militia networks.
Al-Saadi was captured in Turkey on May 15 and is currently being held in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn while the federal case proceeds.
Download the FREE Trending Politics App to get the latest news FIRST >>
