A federal prisoner sitting in solitary confinement in Brooklyn allegedly plotted to murder Ivanka Trump as payback for the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi allegedly vowed to kill Ivanka and reportedly obtained drawings of her Florida home’s layout, the New York Post (NYP) reported, citing former Iraqi embassy deputy military attaché Entifadh Qanbar and a second source. Qanbar told the NYP that Al-Saadi spoke openly about the plan after the 2020 Soleimani strike.
“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,’” Qanbar told the NYP. The outlet also reported reviewing an X post in which Al-Saadi shared a map of Ivanka and Jared Kushner’s Florida neighborhood, paired with an Arabic threat warning that palaces and Secret Service protection would not shield the family. (RELATED: Rubio Kicks Out Relatives Of Late Iranian Commander Soleimani Living In America)
Al-Saadi, a 32-year-old Iraqi national and senior Kata’ib Hizballah figure, faces six terrorism counts tied to roughly 20 plots in the U.S. and Europe, according to a Justice Department release. Turkish authorities arrested him on May 15 and transferred him to U.S. agents. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ordered him jailed pending trial in Manhattan federal court.
Ivanka Trump targeted for assassination by IRGC terrorist in twisted plot to avenge president taking out his mentor: sources https://t.co/OggBkA0E6u pic.twitter.com/1SeDDGxLyX
— New York Post (@nypost) May 22, 2026
Federal prosecutors also connected Al-Saadi to plots against Jewish sites on American soil, according to TIME. The magazine reported he intended to strike a synagogue in New York City along with Jewish community centers in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona, and agreed to pay an undercover informant $10,000 to carry the attacks out. Phillip Smyth, a researcher who tracks Shiite armed groups, called the arrest “incredibly significant” and told TIME that Al-Saadi ran a Kata’ib Hizballah front group active across Europe.
Al-Saadi’s path into Iran’s orbit ran through Soleimani himself, the NYP reported. Raised in Baghdad after his Iranian brigadier general father died in 2006, he traveled to Tehran for IRGC training and grew close to the Quds Force chief, whom Qanbar described as a father figure. A travel agency specializing in religious pilgrimages gave Al-Saadi cover to move between terror cells abroad, Qanbar told the NYP, while an Iraqi service passport let him bypass airport screening.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche pointed to the case as a warning that anyone targeting Americans on U.S. soil will face federal prosecution, the DOJ statement said. FBI Director Kash Patel credited bureau agents and partner agencies with the capture.
Al-Saadi remains in solitary at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the NYP reported.