Pakistani man with ties to Iran charged with assassination plot in U.S.

Aug. 6 (UPI) -- A Pakistani man is accused of traveling to New York City to hire hitmen to kill a U.S. politician or government official on U.S. soil.

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York charged Asif Merchant, 46, with orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate one or more politicians or government officials in the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

Merchant, also known as Asif Raza Merchant, is in federal custody after allegedly trying to hire several men who were undercover FBI agents and a confidential FBI informant.

"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 Gen. [Qasem] Soleimani," said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Former President Donald Trump was president when Soleimani was killed in a targeted air strike in Baghdad in January 2020. Soleimani was Iran's top general when Trump ordered the airstrike.

"The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran's lethal plotting against American citizens," Garland continued, "and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America's national security."

Merchant is a Pakistani national "with close ties with Iran," FBI Director Christopher Wray said.

Wray said the murder-for-hire plot is "straight out of the Iranian playbook."

Federal court documents indicate Merchant spent time in Iran before traveling from Pakistan to the United States in April and contacted someone he thought could help carry out his alleged assassination plot.

Instead, the person reported the plot to law enforcement and became a confidential source for the FBI.

Merchant allegedly told the informant there would be more than one assassination and all targets would be killed in the United States while making a "'finger gun' motion" with his hand.

Merchant's alleged scheme included stealing documents or USB drives from victims' homes, planning a protest and killing a politician or government officials.

Merchant allegedly quizzed the informant on how the killings might occur under different scenarios and said the assassinations would happen while he was out of the United States.

Merchant also allegedly affirmed an unidentified party "back home" told him to finalize plans to carry out the murders and then leave the United States, according to the Justice Department.

Federal prosecutors say Merchant in June met with several "hitmen" who were undercover FBI agents and law enforcement officers and told them they would get instructions on whom to kill during the last week in August or the first week in September after he left the United States.

He also allegedly paid each man $5,000 as an advance on their fee to carry out the assassinations and made flight arrangements to leave the country but was arrested on July 12.

The Department of Justice's announcement of the arrest and charges filed against Merchant come after Iran allegedly threatened to assassinate Trump.

The Department of Justice previously provided information on Merchant paying $5,000 to assassinate someone that the FBI said might be Trump.