King Charles III will reflect on ‘the increasing pressures of conflict’ across the world in a ‘time of great challenge’ during a speech planned for Monday, according to multiple reports. 

‘We join together on this Commonwealth Day at a time of great challenge and great possibility,’ a preview of the 77-year-old’s Commonwealth Day speech says.

The king’s speech continued: ‘Across our world, communities and nations face the increasing pressures of conflict, climate change and rapid transformation. Yet it is often in such testing moments that the enduring spirit of the Commonwealth is most clearly revealed.’

The speech will come a little more than a week after the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iran, which British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom didn’t take part in for the sake of their national interest.

‘This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with,’ President Donald Trump said earlier this week in a criticism of Starmer amid a perceived lack of support for the U.S. and Israel’s joint military operation against Iran.

‘By the way, I’m not happy with the U.K. either,’ the president said, referring to Starmer blocking the United States’ use of U.K. bases to launch attacks on Iran.

Britain has since allowed the U.S. to use its bases in the region for defensive purposes against Iran’s retaliatory strikes. It has also mobilized fighter jets and plans to send a destroyer and possibly an aircraft carrier. 

The president referenced the Chagos Islands Tuesday, which are British territories in the Indian Ocean, saying it has taken ‘three, four days for us to work out where we can land there.’

‘It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised,’ he said.

Later, the president said the United Kingdom has been ‘very, very uncooperative with that stupid island.’ 

‘It’s a shame,’ Trump said. ‘That country, the U.K., and I love that country, I love it.’

‘This is not the age of Churchill,’ he added.

Trump slammed Starmer again on Saturday, accusing the prime minister of joining the war after the U.S. had ‘already won.’

‘The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!’

Starmer has defended his decision to stay out of the conflict, saying the U.K. was ‘not involved in the ​initial strikes against Iran, and we will not join offensive action now.’

‘But in the face of Iran’s barrage of missiles and ⁠drones, we will protect our people in the region,’ Starmer said in an address Monday to Parliament. ‘President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the ​initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest. That is what I’ve done, and I stand by it.’

The king and other senior royals will gather at Westminster Abbey on Monday for the annual Commonwealth Day celebration, which recognizes the 56 countries voluntarily connected to the U.K., many of which were once part of the British Empire.

The preview of the speech continues: ‘Working together, we can ensure that the Commonwealth continues to stand as a force for good — grounded in community, committed to the kind of restorative sustainability that has a return on investment, enriched by culture, steadfast in its care for our planet, and united in friendship and in the service of its people.’

Charles’ speech at the abbey will also be the largest gathering of the royal family since former Prince Andrew was arrested on Feb. 19.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump on Saturday slammed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, saying he was joining the war in Iran after the U.S. has ‘already won.’

‘The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!’

Trump’s statement came after the U.K. Ministry of Defense said that one of the country’s two aircraft carriers had been placed on advanced readiness in Portsmouth, England, for a possible mobilization to the Middle East, according to the BBC.

A British destroyer, HMS Dragon, is also in Portsmouth, waiting to leave for Cyprus after delays.

Starmer said that while the U.K. wasn’t involved in the strikes, they are ‘operating defensively in the region.’

In an address to the British people on Sunday, Starmer condemned ‘indiscriminate’ attacks by Iran following the U.S. strikes, adding, ‘the only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source.’

He added that Britain has agreed to the United States’ request to use British bases for that ‘limited’ purpose.

After the strikes, Trump told the Telegraph in the U.K. that he was ‘very disappointed’ in Starmer, claiming it ‘took far too long’ for the prime minister to allow the U.S. to use British bases in the region. 

British fighter jets are also flying over Jordan, Cyprus and Qatar to strengthen defense in the region, and a Merlin helicopter is on the way for additional airborne surveillance, according to the Ministry of Defense.

‘While the region has been plunged into chaos, my focus is providing calm, levelheaded leadership in the national interest,’ Starmer said this week. ‘That means deploying our military and diplomatic strength to protect our people. And it means having the strength to stand firm by our values and our principles, no matter the pressure to do otherwise. The longstanding British position is that the best way forward for the regime and world is a negotiated settlement with Iran where they give up their nuclear ambitions.’

He said that’s why he made the decision that the U.K. would not join the initial coordinated strikes launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28.

In Parliament this week, Starmer added, ‘We all remember the mistakes of Iraq, and we have learned those lessons. Any U.K. ‌actions must ⁠always have a lawful basis, and a viable, thought-through plan,’ Starmer said. ‘This government does not believe in regime change from the skies.’

Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss reposted Trump’s Saturday Truth Social comments on X, writing, ‘Justified and damning.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to Starmer’s office for comment.

Nearly 28,000 Americans have returned from the Middle East, according to the State Department, which outlined a large-scale evacuation effort as Senate Democrats escalated criticism over the conflict in Iran.

A top State Department official, in a letter to Senate Democrats first obtained by Fox News Digital, noted that since fighting in Iran escalated following Operation Epic Fury, the agency has ‘taken proactive, rapid action to support Americans in the region.’

That has included chartered flights, ground transport from closed-airspace areas and round-the-clock crisis staffing.

Paul Guaglianone, the State Department’s senior bureau official of legislative affairs, wrote in a letter to several Senate Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that before the strikes, the agency ‘planned immediate measures to protect and evacuate U.S. citizens.’

The letter comes as diplomats and officials have faced ‘multiple direct strikes from the Iranian regime.’

‘The professionalism and competence of America’s diplomatic corps are inspiring,’ Guaglianone wrote. ‘The Department has taken all necessary steps to protect its safety, both in the region and at posts worldwide.’

‘Despite ongoing threats, our diplomats remain active and focused,’ he continued. ‘They continue to communicate with our allies and partners and advance American diplomatic interests.’

His letter responds directly to criticism from Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who argued that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration have ‘not prioritized getting experienced ambassadors in place in the Middle East,’ leading to a breakdown in evacuating diplomats and Americans since the strikes began.

The lawmakers noted that three ambassadors were dismissed in Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt ‘without explanation,’ and that the administration is behind in finding replacements and filling vacancies.

‘Of the 14 countries where the Department urged Americans to urgently leave last Monday, only six have confirmed ambassadors,’ the lawmakers wrote. ‘There are currently no pending nominees before the Senate for ambassadorships in the Middle East. As a result, many key posts are without experienced senior leadership at a time of crisis.’

‘Simply put, abrupt decision-making and lack of planning by State Department leadership to ensure the safety and security of its own staff left our personnel and their families unnecessarily at risk,’ they continued. ‘Days into the conflict, the Department still appears caught off-guard and lacks a clear, comprehensive plan to safeguard American personnel, their families or other Americans in the region.’

Guaglianone noted that the agency is providing frequent updates to more than 106,000 Americans enrolled in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, operating a 24/7 call center with no wait times and responding quickly to congressional inquiries while coordinating closely with lawmakers to assist constituents.

He also wrote that the agency is chartering additional planes for Americans as more commercial flights become available in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Oman, and that ground transportation is being offered to expand relocation options for Americans in places with closed airspace.

Americans in Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel who complete the Crisis Intake form receive direct outreach about upcoming charter aviation and ground transportation options from the agency.

‘At this time, nearly one in three American citizens who requested help departing turn down U.S. government-provided transportation options when contacted,’ Guaglianone wrote. ‘Some American citizens wish to remain in-country, while others prefer an alternative departure option.’

The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement has yet to enter the conflict on Iran’s side but in recent days has been ratcheting up its rhetoric in support of Tehran, with its leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, declaring that it was prepared to enter the war against the U.S. and Israel if necessary.

‘Regarding military escalation and action, our fingers are on the trigger, ready to respond at any moment should developments warrant it,’ al-Houthi said on Thursday.

‘The reason why the Houthis have not intervened is they are last line of resistance for the axis. Especially after other axis members were degraded,’ Nadwa Al-Dawsari, an expert on Yemen and an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital.

The official slogan of the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) reads, ‘Allah is Greater. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam.’ 

Al-Dawsari, who has written extensively about Yemen and the Houthis, said: ‘I think the Houthis will intervene at some point. The longer the war continues, the more likely the Houthis will intervene. I think what the Houthis want to do — and they have been itching for a while to do — is to attack the Saudis. If the Saudis intervene, the Houthis will find a reason to attack the Saudis.’

The Islamic Republic of Iran formed an ‘Axis of Resistance’ prior to Hamas’ invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Iran’s axis coalition of Shiite and Sunni terrorist proxies, includes the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis, Shiite militias in Iraq, and the now-defunct Baathist regime in Syria.

Within the first few weeks of his administration, President Joe Biden launched a reset with the Houthis and pressured the Saudis to end the war against the bellicose Houthi movement. ‘The war in Yemen must end,’ Biden declared in his first major foreign policy speech about the Mideast in February 2021.

Biden’s reversal of American support for the Saudi-led allies in their war against the Houthis was also coupled with his administration de-listing the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization. President Donald Trump swiftly reimposed the terrorist designation for the Houthis at the start of his second term and launched military strikes against the terrorists in Yemen.

Al-Dawsari said another reason why the Houthis have yet to join the conflict is that it’s not in the interests of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ‘to drag the Houthis into a suicidal war.’ She argues ‘If the Iranian regime collapses, and if a new regime emerges, I think the IRGC will regroup in Yemen or Somalia. Yemen is the key ally.’

There has been discussion between the IRGC and Houthis about why the ‘Houthis’ continued existence is of strategic importance to the IRGC,’ she said.

‘The IRGC can’t afford to lose the Houthis. Yemen is so important to them. They need to preserve the Houthis for tomorrow for the IRGC to continue even after the regime,’ Al-Dawsari continued.

She noted that ‘Houthis have established themselves in the Horn of Africa. The IRGC is behind the Houthis. Intervention might be symbolic by the Houthis.’ She continued that Iran’s ‘tactic now is to prolong the war and widen it across the region and to put more pressure on the U.S.’ 

In May 2025, Trump announced that the U.S. would stop its air bombing campaign against the Houthis because, he said, the Houthis ‘don’t want to fight.’

‘They just don’t want to, and we will honor that. We will stop the bombings,’ Trump said. The Houthis had launched attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, as well as the Jewish state, to support their ally Hamas in Gaza.

Al-Dawsari said after the Trump announcement the Houthis did not attack American ships. ‘They know Trump does not joke. They know they will suffer consequences.’

Norwegian police are investigating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Oslo that caused no injuries and only minor damage.

Amid the war on Iran, the Norwegian Justice Minister Astri Aas-Hansen is deploying ‘considerable resources’ to search for potential multiple perpetrators.

‘This is an unacceptable incident that we are taking very seriously,’ she told Norwegian press agency NTB.

A ‘loud bang’ was reported at the U.S. embassy in Oslo early Sunday morning at 1 a.m. local time (Saturday 7 p.m. ET), according to police, and eyewitnesses told Reuters that they saw thick smoke by the entrance of the consular section.

‘There was a very thick layer of smoke on the street,’ said Sebastian Toerstad, 18, a high school student who drove past the embassy at the time of the explosion.

‘There was some damage to the entrance.’

No explosive devices had been found in the area, according to police.

‘Investigations have been carried out at the scene with the aid of dogs, drones and a helicopter, searching for one or more potential perpetrators,’ the Oslo police department said in a statement.

PST, the Norwegian police security service, called in additional personnel following the incident but has not changed the country’s terror threat level, according to communication adviser Martin Bernsen.

PST operations manager Mikael Dellemyr does not ‘connect’ the attack to U.S. bombings in the Middle East or terrorist or Iranian retaliation.

‘It is far too early’ in the investigation, he told Oslo’s TV 2.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment, but they did not immediately respond.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Kristi Noem will reportedly join President Donald Trump and 12 Latin American leaders at his resort in Florida for a ‘Shield of the Americas’ summit Saturday after her ouster as the Secretary of Homeland Security and appointment by President Donald Trump to be special envoy for the new coalition of nations. 

On Thursday, Trump announced Noem would be exiting her role as Homeland Security secretary and would be appointed a Special Envoy for the ‘Shield of the Americas,’ a summit for which will be held at the president’s resort in Doral, Florida, on Saturday. The new coalition of 13 countries has been formed to advance strategies that will tackle mass illegal immigration, narco-terrorist gangs and cartels. 

‘After years of neglect, President Trump established the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere. His efforts have been a tremendous success – our southern border is secure, Latin American countries are working with us to defeat the cartels, and illegitimate dictator Nicolas Maduro is facing justice for his crimes in the Southern District of New York – ushering in historic economic cooperation with Venezuela,’ said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly ahead of the summit. 

‘The President has successfully strengthened our relationships in our own backyard to make the entire region safer and more stable, and this weekend’s ‘Shield of the Americas’ Summit will encapsulate all of his work to Make America, and our partners, Strong Again,’ she continued.

Members of Trump’s Cabinet, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, will also be at the Saturday summit. 

The leaders from other nations who will be present are Argentina’s Javier Milei, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele Ortez, Bolivia’s Rodrigo Paz Pereira, Costa Rica’s Rodrigo Chaves Robles, Panama’s José Raúl Mulino Quintero, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Chile’s Jose Antonio Kast, the Dominican Republic’s Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona, Ecuador’s Daniel Roy Gilchrist Noboa Azín, Guyana’s Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Honduras’ Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura, and Paraguay’s Santiago Peña.

Noem confirmed Friday, speaking from Nashville, that she will be at the summit, according to the Associated Press. Noem reportedly added that the president will announce ‘a big agreement’ detailing ‘how we’re going to go after cartels and drug trafficking in the entire Western Hemisphere.’ 

On Friday, Hegseth led a strategic conference in Doral with representatives of 17 different Caribbean, Central American and South American countries throughout the Western Hemisphere. During the conference, they signed a joint security declaration, reaffirming their commitment to peace and sovereignty in the region. According to a source familiar with the plans for the summit, the president plans to celebrate this achievement with attendees.

‘Secretary Noem helped usher in the most secure border in history, deported hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal aliens, and executed record-setting counter-drug operations against cartels. All of this great experience positions Noem well to ensure American preeminence in the entire Western Hemisphere in her new role as Special Envoy to the Shield of the Americas,’ White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said. ‘This historic new security initiative, led by Secretary Noem, will advance cutting-edge strategies to defeat narco-terrorist cartels and stop illegal mass migration to make America and the entire Western Hemisphere safer.’

On Thursday, Rubio said he looked forward to working with Noem as Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, and echoed the comments from the White House about her experience.

‘Kristi has achieved incredible results as Secretary of Homeland Security and will be a tremendous asset in our effort to promote security and prosperity in the Western Hemisphere,’ Rubio said on X after Trump named Noem to her new post. 

When Benny Sabti was a child growing up in Iran, he remembers receiving an unusual prize at school. ‘For being an excellent student, I received a Persian translation of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler,’ Sabti told Fox News Digital. ‘They translated Hitler’s book into Persian and distributed it to students.’

The experience stayed with him. Looking back, Sabti, now an Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Israel, says it reflected a broader effort by Iran’s ruling clerical establishment to shape how young Iranians viewed politics, religion and the world around them.

Schools, mosques, workplaces and media all became part of an ideological ecosystem designed to reinforce loyalty to the regime. But critics of Iran’s leadership say religion itself was often not the ultimate goal.

‘Faith for them is their tool,’ Banafsheh Zand, an Iranian-American journalist and editor of the Iran So Far Away Substack, told Fox News Digital. ‘It’s not the end all to be all. It’s a tool that they can hide behind so that they can carry out all their criminalities.’

Religion and power

The Islamic Republic was founded on the doctrine of velayat-e faqih, or ‘guardianship of the Islamic jurist,’ which places ultimate political and religious authority in the hands of the country’s supreme leader.

But Zand argues that in practice the system functions less as a purely religious project and more as a mechanism of political control. ‘It’s more like a mafia,’ she said. ‘They use faith in order to keep people down.’

According to Zand, ideology is reinforced through a mix of financial incentives and intimidation. ‘They tried by incentive and money and buying people,’ she said.

Programs tied to the Basij, a militia affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have often provided benefits such as jobs, housing and education to families aligned with the regime.

‘If you are poor and you join the Basij, they give you benefits,’ Zand said. ‘But you have to go along with whatever it is that they offer you.’

Ideology embedded in daily life

Sabti says the Islamic Republic built a vast network designed to reinforce ideology in everyday life. ‘In banks, offices, public spaces and even in the bazaars, regime representatives walk between shops telling people it is time to pray and checking who is not attending,’ Sabti said.

Mosques themselves are closely integrated into the political system. Friday prayer leaders often deliver sermons aligned with government messaging.

‘There are 16 propaganda bodies in Iran,’ Sabti said, describing a network of state institutions responsible for spreading the regime’s interpretation of Islam and the ideals of the Islamic Revolution.

Some institutions also focus on exporting that ideology abroad. ‘There is a university dedicated to converting Sunnis to Shiism,’ he said. ‘They bring people from Africa and South America to Iran, convert them to Shiism and send them back to export the Shiite Islamic revolution.’

Indoctrination in schools

Schools play a central role in the regime’s ideological system.

‘Schools are heavily indoctrinated,’ Sabti said. ‘In civil studies books, Islam was promoted as superior to all other ideologies.’

Religious messaging appears across the curriculum. ‘You cannot separate any school subject from Islam,’ Sabti said. ‘Not history, not geography. Everything is mixed with ideology. The only thing missing was adding it to mathematics.’

For Sabti, the Mein Kampf episode symbolized the ideological environment students were exposed to. The message, he said, reinforced hostility toward perceived enemies and embedded a political worldview from an early age.

Ideology and hypocrisy

Sabti says the credibility of the system is also undermined by the behavior of Iran’s own elites. ‘You can see it in the second generation,’ he said. ‘Their children live abroad while the elites live in palaces in Iran and in other countries. It is hypocrisy.’

Zand says ideology has always been reinforced by intimidation. ‘They make examples out of people in the most vicious possible way,’ she said. ‘It’s fear and manipulation.’

According to Zand, that atmosphere of fear shapes daily life for many Iranians. ‘Everybody is afraid of the police,’ she said. ‘Everybody is afraid of their neighbors.’

An ideology losing its grip

Despite the regime’s extensive ideological machinery, Sabti believes many Iranians never fully accepted the worldview the government tried to impose.

‘Over the years, the indoctrination has stopped working,’ he said. ‘Most of the public does not truly believe it.’

Still, the Islamic Republic remains in power. ‘The regime maintains control through money, weapons and propaganda,’ Sabti said.

Zand agrees the system never fully reshaped Iranian society. Many people, she said, complied outwardly simply to avoid punishment.

‘They won’t have a problem to transfer as long as they realize that the new Iran has no room for the violence and the horrifying characteristics of the Islamist regime,’ Zand told Fox News Digital.

She said that beneath the surface, Iran’s cultural identity remained intact even after decades of pressure from the state.

President Donald Trump on Friday said the U.S. is ‘doing very well’ in Iran, nearly a week after the military coordinated with Israel on airstrikes in Tehran that left its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dead.

‘Somebody said, ‘How would you score it from zero to 10?’ I said, ‘I’d give it a 12 to a 15.’ Their army is gone. Their navy is gone. Their communications are gone. Their leaders are gone,’ Trump said. ‘Two sets of their leaders.’

The president made the remarks after Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked at the end of a White House college sports roundtable what was motivating Trump to hold the roundtable ‘because there is a lot of other stuff going on in the world.’

‘That’s right,’ Trump agreed, adding that Iran’s air force has been ‘wiped out entirely. Think of it. They have 32 ships. All 32 are at the bottom of the ocean. Other than that, they’re doing very well.’

‘Our military is doing phenomenally,’ he said. ‘The situation with a very bad and very sick group of leaders who were killing a lot of people. A lot of our people were being killed or were being maimed. … And we had a choice. We could take it and go on like that for years or do something about it. And we did something about it.’

Trump added that ‘people are very impressed with our military, and they admire our military with what happened in Venezuela, what’s happening now, what’s happened with the B-2 bombers before this, where they took out the nuclear capability or potential of Iran.

‘I think we’re, right now, we’re a country that’s more respected than we’ve ever been respected before.’

Doocy also told the president earlier, ‘It sounds like the Russians are helping Iran target and attack Americans now.’

‘That’s an easy problem compared to what we’re doing here,’ Trump said, referring to college sports, calling it a ‘stupid question to be asking at this time. We’re talking about something else.’

Earlier Friday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. won’t accept any deal with Iran ‘except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!’

‘After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before,’ Trump wrote. 

‘IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE. ‘MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).’’

A Pakistani man convicted Friday of plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump and other politicians told an FBI agent he thought Iran ‘was responsible’ for the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Asif Merchant, 47, told the FBI agent, Jacqueline Smith, that the incident ‘was the same thing he was sent here to do,’ Smith testified during Merchant’s trial. Merchant told jurors the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sent him on a ‘mission’ to kill U.S. politicians, including by telling him to attend a Republican rally.

Merchant was arrested July 12, 2024, one day prior to the shooting in Butler, where Thomas Crooks fired several shots into a rally crowd, killing one and grazing Trump’s ear. 

The FBI has said repeatedly it found no evidence that Crooks had co-conspirators or that any foreign actors were involved in the incident.

Merchant, who was convicted by a jury of murder-for-hire and attempting to commit terrorism, testified that Trump was not his only target, telling jurors then-President Joe Biden and former presidential candidate Nikki Haley were also on his list. He claimed he only took part in the plot, which was foiled by the FBI before coming to fruition, because Iran’s IRGC warned it would target his family.

‘I had no other options,’ Merchant said. ‘My family was threatened.’

Merchant now faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. His sentence will be determined at a later hearing.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that Merchant ‘landed on American soil hoping to kill President Trump — instead, he was met with the might of American law enforcement.’

‘The Department of Justice will remain ever-vigilant to protect Americans, prosecute terrorists, and halt acts of terrorism before they happen,’ Bondi said.

Merchant was arrested after he was recorded on camera outlining a plot on a napkin to kill a politician with a person who turned out to be an FBI informant. Federal prosecutors showed video during the trial of Merchant speaking to the informant. The prosecutors said Merchant also tried to hire two hit men and pay them $5,000, but the men turned out to be federal agents posing as assassins.

Smith, the FBI agent who met with Merchant after his arrest, said Merchant never conveyed that he feared for his family. Merchant said he wanted to do intelligence work and be paid for it, Smith said.

The FBI agent also said Merchant was told by an Iranian handler to attend a Republican political rally to scope out security. But Merchant was worried about being identified, so he watched the rally online instead.

Merchant’s defense team told jurors their client, who has two wives, was a family man and cared deeply about his faith and that he intentionally acted carelessly because he wanted to be caught.

In their closing arguments, defense lawyers said Merchant had his hand forced in the operation, thinking his family would be harmed if he did not cooperate. Additionally, the lawyers cited several instances in which Merchant’s actions as an intelligence operator were little more than incompetent.

Fox News’ Danielle Cavaliere and Brendan McDonald contributed.

An Iranian official warned that any European countries that enter the conflict against Iran will become ‘legitimate targets’ for Tehran’s retaliation. 

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi made the remark to France24 as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday apologized to neighboring countries that have been attacked by the regime. 

‘We have already informed the Europeans and everybody else that they should be careful not to be involved in this war of aggression against Iran,’ Takht-Ravanchi told the network. ‘If they help, I’m not trying to name any country, but if any country joins in the aggression against Iran, joins America and Israel in the aggression against Iran, definitely they will be also the legitimate targets for Iranian retaliation.’ 

‘This war has imposed on us, and we will continue to defend ourselves to the best of our abilities,’ he added. ‘We have an obligation to defend our people and that is what exactly we are doing.’

Takht-Ravanchi also claimed Iran was ‘negotiating in good faith‘ in talks with the U.S. about its nuclear program, before America launched Operation Epic Fury and Israel began Operation Roaring Lion on Feb. 28. 

‘We are sincere. We are sincere in our endeavor to arrive at a peaceful conclusion of this issue,’ he told France24. 

Pezeshkian said Saturday that any future attacks coming out of Iran would only be in response to attacks against the country. 

‘I should apologize to the neighboring countries that were attacked by Iran, on my own behalf,’ he said, according to The Associated Press. ‘From now on, they should not attack neighboring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy.’

Pezeshkian made the apology during a prerecorded televised speech on Saturday after Iran launched repeated strikes on Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman. 

Despite the vow, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that the country’s air defense systems intercepted 16 ballistic missiles, 15 of which were destroyed while one fell into the sea.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett and The Associated Press contributed to this report.