US Arrests Pakistani In Foiled Assassination Plot

Photo: Department of Justice
WASHINGTON, DC (REUTERS) – A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran has been charged in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate a US politician or government officials, the Justice Department said on August 7.

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.

Former President Donald Trump, who as president approved the drone strike on Soleimani, was discussed as a potential target of the plot, but the scheme was not conceived of as a plot to assassinate the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The plot is also unrelated to the assassination attempt on the former president at a rally in Pennsylvania, by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper on site.

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

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.

Law enforcement 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 United States, prosecutors allege.