Pakistani Man With Iranian Ties Charged For 'Elaborate Assassination Plot' Against Trump

The Pakistani man was charged for an alleged plot to assassinate Donald Trump and other US politicians.

Former United States President Donald Trump.

Source : PTI

US News: The United States Justice Department has charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran over an alleged plot to assassinate Donald Trump and other US politicians. The accused was identified as Asif Merchant, 46.

The charges against the accused were announced by US Attorney General Merrick Garland. He indicated that the target was Trump, but did not name him. "For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran's brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani," he said, as quoted by news agency IANS.

FBI director Christopher Wray called the scheme a "dangerous murder-for-hire plot... straight out of the Iranian playbook". According to the BBC, he is accused of trying to hire a hitman in New York to kill prominent American officials.

Trump was among the targets, as quoted by CBS, the BBC's news partner citing sources. Security for Trump was increased in June after authorities learned of an Iranian plot to kill him.

"A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any US citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI," Wray said on Tuesday, as quoted by the BBC.

Merchant was arrested in July and is being held in New York. According to the justice department's indictment, Merchant arrived in the US from Pakistan in April after having spent time in Iran.

Following his arrival, he allegedly contacted a person whom he believed could help with the assassination plot. That unnamed contact later reported Merchant to the police. According to the BBC, Merchant allegedly made a "finger gun" motion with his hand when talking about what he wanted to do.

The indictment said the job would not be a "one-time opportunity" and that contact services would be needed on an ongoing basis. Merchant allegedly told the contact he had plans to leave the US before targets were killed and that he would stay connected through code words.

The suspect asked the contact to arrange a meeting with would-be assassins, the indictment says. In June, the contact got in touch with him to undercover FBI agents posing as hitmen.

Merchant allegedly told the agents they were to steal documents from the home of a target, arrange protests at political rallies, and kill a "political person," as reported by the BBC. As per the indictment, Merchant stated the targets would be communicated in the last week of August or the first week of September.

While the indictment does not mention the name of the Republican presidential nominee, sources cited by CBS stated that he was one of the intended targets.

The plot is unrelated to the assassination attempt on the former president at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on 13 July, by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper on site. The former US President and officials, including his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, have received several threats from Tehran since they ordered the drone strike assassination of Qassim Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds force, in Iraq in 2020.