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Ex-Navy Sailor Pleads Guilty to Plotting Attack on Naval Station Great Lakes

Xuanyu Harry Pang admitted to planning the attack on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps to avenge the 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani.

A sign marks the main gate at Naval Station Great Lakes in Great Lakes, Illinois, on February 27, 2025. Xuanyu Harry Pang, 38, a former sailor once stationed at Great Lakes, has pleaded guilty to a 2022 conspiracy to carry out a terrorist attack at the facility on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The main gate at Naval Station Great Lakes in Great Lakes, Ill., on Feb. 27, 2025.
Naval Station Great Lakes entrance along Buckley Road on April 14, 2020 in Great Lakes. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
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Overview

  • Xuanyu Harry Pang, a 38-year-old former Navy sailor, pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiring to attack Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois.
  • The plot was allegedly carried out on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as retaliation for the U.S. killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
  • Pang engaged in encrypted communications with undercover FBI operatives posing as Iranian affiliates, providing surveillance photos, military uniforms, and a phone intended for use as a detonator.
  • He also scouted additional Chicago-area targets, including popular tourist sites like Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate sculpture and Michigan Avenue, discussing plans for maximum damage.
  • Pang faces up to 20 years in prison and is currently detained without bond, with sentencing scheduled for May 27, 2025.