A former Navy sailor has admitted guilt in federal court to conspiring to attack Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, IL, allegedly on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The IRGC is Iran’s elite military force, which is separate from the Iranian army. The IRGC is responsible for defending Iran’s revolutionary regime, and to: ensure the integrity of the Islamic Republic; support the regime’s efforts to counter perceived foes; assert leadership over Shia Muslims worldwide; and project power in the Middle East.
Xuanyu Harry Pang pleaded guilty to conspiring to willfully harm and destroy national defense material, premises, and utilities, with the intent to injure, disrupt, and obstruct the national defense of the United States.
Court documents reveal that during the summer of 2021, Pang communicated with someone in Colombia regarding potential assistance in a plan involving Iranian operatives to avenge the death of Qasem Soleimani, a general of the IRGC Quds Force who was killed by U.S. military action in 2020. The Quds Force is a segment of the IRGC focused on unconventional warfare and intelligence activities outside Iran.
An undercover FBI employee, posing as a Quds Force affiliate, later connected online with the Colombian individual about executing an attack. This individual then introduced the undercover FBI employee to Pang, who was stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes at the time. The two discussed potential targets for the attack, including Naval Station Great Lakes and other sites in the Chicago area, through an encrypted messaging app. Pang and the Colombian individual agreed to assist the undercover FBI employee and his alleged associates in their plans to carry out the attack in the United States, according to court records.
In the fall of 2022, Pang met three times with another person working with the FBI, who was posing as an associate of the undercover FBI employee. The first meeting occurred outside the Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago, while the other two were held at a train station in Lake Bluff, Illinois. During the meetings in Lake Bluff, as the plot progressed toward an attack on the Naval Station, Pang showed photos and videos on his phone of various locations within the Naval Station. He also provided two U.S. military uniforms for operatives to wear during the attack and a cell phone that could serve as a test for a detonator.
Pang is currently being held without bond and will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, with a federal district court judge to determine the sentence based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
