• durgesh dubey
• 07 Aug, 2024

Trump

Pakistani national Asif Merchant, who allegedly has connections with Iran, was arrested last month for plotting to assassinate an unidentified politician or US government officials on American soil. Among the potential targets was former President Donald Trump, according to a source familiar with the matter.

However, there is no evidence linking Merchant's plan to last month's assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, another source told media.

The US Justice Department stated that Merchant, 46, sought to hire a hitman to carry out the assassination in retaliation for the US killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani. “This dangerous murder-for-hire plot exposed in today’s complaint allegedly was orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Court documents reveal that Asif Merchant, born around 1978 in Karachi, has a wife and children in Iran and another family in Pakistan. The FBI noted that Merchant frequently traveled to Iran, Syria, and Iraq. He arrived in the US from Pakistan in April 2024 and contacted someone he believed could assist him with his assassination plots. In June, he met this individual, who later became a confidential source for law enforcement, in New York and explained his plan.

Merchant told the source that the opportunity was ongoing, making a "finger-gun" motion to indicate it involved killing. He also revealed that the intended victims were in the US and that his plot included multiple criminal schemes, such as stealing documents or USB drives from a target’s home, planning a protest, and assassinating a politician or government official. Merchant intended to execute the plot either in the last week of August or the first week of September.

Prosecutors allege that Merchant, who spent time in Iran before traveling to the US, was charged with murder for hire in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. A federal judge ordered his detention on July 16, according to court records.

Attorney General Merrick Garland stated, “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.”

Asif Merchant's arrest highlights the ongoing threat posed by foreign-directed plots to US national security. “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,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.