Captured terrorist pledged to assassinate Ivanka Trump and had already mapped out her $24 million Florida home

A recently captured terrorist trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, allegedly planned to assassinate Ivanka Trump. The 32-year-old Iraqi national was arrested in Turkey on May 15 and later extradited to the United States. Sources say he made a “pledge” to kill Ivanka and even had a blueprint of her Florida home.

According to The New York Post, Al-Saadi’s motivation came from the killing of Iranian military chief Qasem Soleimani, who died in a US drone strike in Baghdad six years ago. “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,'” said Entifadh Qanbar, a former deputy military attaché at the Iraqi embassy in Washington, in a statement to The Post.

Al-Saadi’s relationship with Soleimani was reportedly very close, reports the. Soleimani served as a father figure to him after the death of his own father, Ahmad Kazemi, an Iranian brigadier general, who died in 2006. Al-Saadi later set up a travel agency that specialized in religious trips, which allowed him to travel around the world and “connect with terror cells.”

Al-Saadi was behind multiple attacks on US and Jewish targets across Europe and North America

Al-Saadi is a high-ranking figure in Iraq-Iran terror circles and has been linked to several attacks on US and Jewish targets across multiple countries. These include the firebombing of the Bank of New York Mellon in Amsterdam in March, the stabbing of two Jewish victims in London in April, and a shooting at the US consulate building in Toronto, also in March. 

He also “planned, coordinated” and allegedly took responsibility for the bombing of a synagogue in Liège, Belgium, and the arson of a temple in Rotterdam in March, painting a picture of a well-connected and highly active terror operative.

The federal indictment against Al-Saadi includes photos of him consulting with Soleimani at what appears to be a military facility, looking over maps and equipment. These photos had been posted on his own Snapchat account, suggesting a brazen disregard for concealing his activities. 

In August 2020, seven months after Soleimani was killed, Al-Saadi posted an image on his social media account of Soleimani and another military figure killed in the same drone strike, with the caption: “I will leave social media and turn off all my phones until the American enemy is defeated …victory or martyrdom.” The broader consequences of US-Iran tensions have had far-reaching effects on global energy supplies, impacting communities well beyond the battlefield.

Despite his alleged involvement in numerous terrorist attacks, Al-Saadi was openly active on social media. He posted pictures of himself standing next to famous tourist spots, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. He also posted selfies while kayaking and posing in front of a missile with his hand over his heart, an unusual mix of casual and militant imagery for someone allegedly running a global terror network.

Al-Saadi, who also allegedly has links to Lebanese paramilitary force Hezbollah, is currently being held in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. The facility also houses other high-profile inmates, including accused CEO shooter Luigi Mangione and captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. 

Ivanka Trump converted to Orthodox Judaism in 2009 before her marriage to property developer Jared Kushner. As the investigation continues, federal authorities are expected to dig further into Al-Saadi’s terror network and the full scope of his alleged plans. Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to navigate several domestic policy challenges, including easing refrigerant regulations to lower grocery costs ahead of the midterms.