Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran charged in foiled plot to kill US leaders

A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran has been charged over a foiled conspiracy to carry out political assassinations on US soil, the justice department said on Tuesday as it disclosed what officials say is the latest murder-for-hire plot to target US public figures.

Asif Merchant, 46, sought to recruit people in the United States to carry out the plot in retaliation for the US killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ top commander, Qassem Soleimani, in 2020, according to a criminal complaint.

Merchant, who prosecutors allege spent time in Iran before traveling to the US from Pakistan, was charged with murder for hire in federal court in New York’s Brooklyn borough. A federal judge ordered him detained on 17 July, according to court records.

“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 Soleimani,” attorney general Merrick Garland said in a statement.

FBI investigators believe that Donald Trump, who approved the drone strike on Soleimani, and other current and former US government officials were the intended targets of the plot, CNN reported, citing a US official.

Court documents do not name the alleged targets of the plot. Merchant told a law enforcement informant that there would be “security all around” one target, according to the criminal complaint.

A justice department spokesperson declined to comment further. Avraham Moskowitz, a lawyer for Merchant, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s presidential campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.

Trump, the Republican candidate in the 5 November presidential election, was wounded in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last month. Garland said on Tuesday that investigators have found no evidence that Merchant had any connection to the shooting, which officials have said was carried out by a lone 20-year-old gunman.

Law enforcement officials thwarted Merchant’s plan before any attack was carried out. An individual Merchant contacted in April to help assist with the plot reported his activities to law enforcement and became a confidential informant, according to the complaint.

Merchant told the informant his plans also included stealing documents from one target and organizing protests in the US, prosecutors allege.

After the failed assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, US officials said that a threat from Iran had prompted the US Secret Service to boost protection around Trump.

At the time, Iran’s mission to the United Nations dismissed the allegations as “unsubstantiated and malicious”.