An Indian man charged with orchestrating an unsuccessful Indian government-backed plot to kill a Sikh separatist in New York City pleaded guilty on Friday to three criminal charges, a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said.

Nikhil Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carry a maximum combined sentence of 40 years in prison, the spokesperson said.

Gupta entered his plea before US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan federal court.

Lawyers for Gupta were not immediately available for comment.

Gupta has been jailed in Brooklyn since his June 2024 extradition to the United States from the Czech Republic, where he had been arrested a year earlier.

He had pleaded not guilty immediately after his extradition.

US prosecutors accused Gupta of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US resident and dual US-Canadian citizen who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India.

India’s government has dissociated itself from any plot against Pannun, saying it was against government policy.

The discovery of alleged assassination plots against Sikh separatists in the United States and Canada has tested relations with India, which has also denied involvement in such plots.

• Trump embraces potential regime change in Iran.
• Declines to share who he wants to lead Iran.
• Second US carrier sent to region.

US President Donald Trump on Friday embraced potential regime change in Iran and declared that “tremendous power” will soon be in the Middle East, as the Pentagon sent a second aircraft carrier to the region.

Trump’s military moves and tough talk come even as Washington and Tehran seek to revive diplomacy over Tehran’s long-running nuclear dispute with the West.

Asource briefed on the matter told Reuters that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will hold negotiations with Iran on Tuesday in Geneva, with representatives from Oman acting as mediators. 

The source said Witkoff and Kushner will also meet officials from Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday in Geneva in the US drive to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.

Asked if he wanted regime change in Iran, Trump responded that it “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.” He declined to share who he wanted to take over Iran, but said, “There are people.”

“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” Trump said after a military event at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. “In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We’ve been going on for a long time.”

Washington wants nuclear talks with Iran to also cover the country’s ballistic missiles, support for armed groups around the region and the treatment of the Iranian people. Iran has said it is prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions, but has ruled out linking the issue to missiles.

Trump has threatened strikes on Iran if no agreement is reached, while Tehran has vowed to retaliate, stoking fears of a wider war as the US amasses forces in the Middle East. The US targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities in strikes last year.

When asked what was left to be targeted at the nuclear sites, Trump said the “dust.” He added, “If we do it, that would be the least of the mission, but we probably grab whatever is left.”

Long deployments

US officials described the complex process of moving military assets. The carrier Gerald R. Ford will join the carrier Abraham Lincoln, several guided-missile destroyers, fighter jets and surveillance aircraft that have been moved to the Middle East in recent weeks.

The Gerald R. Ford, the United States’ newest and the world’s largest carrier, has been operating in the Caribbean with its escort ships and took part in operations in Venezuela earlier this year.

Asked earlier on Friday why a second aircraft carrier was headed to the Middle East, Trump said: “In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it … if we need it, we’ll have it ready.”

One of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the carrier would take at least a week to reach the Middle East.

The United States most recently had two aircraft carriers in the area last year, when it carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear sites in June.

With only 11 aircraft carriers in the US military’s arsenal, they are a scarce resource and their schedules are usually set well in advance.

In a statement, US Southern Command, which oversees US military operations in Latin America, said it would continue to stay focused on countering “illicit activities and malign actors in the Western Hemisphere.”

The Ford has essentially been at sea since June 2025. It was supposed to be operating in Europe before it was abruptly moved to the Caribbean in November.

While deployments for carriers usually last nine months, it is not uncommon for them to be extended during periods of increased US military activity.

Navy officials have long warned that long deployments at sea can damage morale on ships.

Officials said the administration had looked at sending a separate carrier, the Bush, to the Middle East, but it was undergoing certification and would take over a month to reach the Middle East.

The Ford, which has a nuclear reactor on board, can hold more than 75 military aircraft, including fighter aircraft like the F-18 Super Hornet jet and the E-2 Hawkeye, which can act as an early warning system.

The Ford also has sophisticated radar that can help control air traffic and navigation.

The supporting ships, such as the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser Normandy, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers Thomas Hudner, Ramage, Carney, and Roosevelt, include surface-to-air, surface-to-surface and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

Long overshadowed by his parents and heir to one of Bangladesh’s most powerful political dynasties, Tarique Rahman has finally stepped into the spotlight.

At 60, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader is preparing to take charge of the South Asian nation of 170 million, driven by what he calls an ambition to “do better”.

A year and a half after the deadly uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina’s iron-fisted regime, the BNP said they had won a “sweeping victory” in parliamentary elections held on Thursday.

Official results are yet to be declared, but the United States offered congratulations to Rahman on a “historic” win.

His rise marks a remarkable turnaround for a man who only returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in exile in Britain, far from Dhaka’s political storms.

Widely known as Tarique Zia, he carries a political name that has shaped every stage of his life.

He was 15 when his father, President Ziaur Rahman, was assassinated in 1981.

Tarique’s mother, Khaleda Zia — a three-time prime minister and a towering figure in Bangladeshi politics for decades — died aged 80 in December, just days after his return home.

‘My country’

Speaking to AFP two days before the vote, Rahman vowed to build on their legacy.

“They are them, I am me,” he said from his office, beneath gold-framed portraits of his late parents. “I will try to do better than them.”

He described the “mixed feelings” that overwhelmed him when he arrived home in December — the joy of returning, swiftly eclipsed by grief at his mother’s death.

“This is my country, I was born here, I was raised here — so naturally, that was a very happy feeling,” he said.

Instead of celebrating, however, he had to bid farewell to his ailing mother, who had long been in intensive care.

“When you come home after so long, any son wants to hug his mother,” he said. “I didn’t have that chance.”

Within days of landing in Dhaka, he assumed leadership of the BNP and its election campaign.

The still grieving heir took to the stage, microphone in hand, rallying vast crowds.

‘Unnerves many’

His father, Ziaur Rahman, an army commander, gained influence months after a 1975 coup when founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — Sheikh Hasina’s father — was murdered.

It entrenched a rivalry between the two families that would define the country’s politics for decades. Ziaur Rahman himself was killed in 1981.

Rahman grew up in his mother’s political orbit as she went on to become the country’s first female prime minister, alternating power with Hasina in a long and bitter duel.

“In her seats, I used to go and I used to campaign,” Rahman said. “So this is how slowly and gradually I started getting involved in politics.”

But his career has also been shadowed by allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

A 2006 US embassy cable said he “inspires few but unnerves many”.

Other cables labelled him a “symbol of kleptocratic government and violent politics” and accused him of being “phenomenally corrupt”.

Arrested on corruption charges in 2007, Rahman says he was tortured in custody.

He fled to London the following year, where he faced multiple cases in absentia. He denied all charges and dismissed them as politically motivated.

But he also told AFP he offered an apology.

“If there are any mistakes which were unwanted, we are sorry for that,” he told AFP.

After Hasina’s fall, Rahman was acquitted of the most serious charge against him — a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a Hasina rally — which he had always denied.

Married to a cardiologist and father to a daughter, a lawyer, he led a quiet life in Britain.

That changed with his dramatic return and hero’s welcome in December, accompanied by his fluffy ginger cat, Jebu, images of which have gone viral on Bangladeshi social media.

He admits the task ahead is “immense”, rebuilding a country he says was “destroyed” by the former regime.