Pakistani Man Charged in US Assassination Plot Tied to Iran

A Pakistani man, Asif Merchant, has been charged in Brooklyn for allegedly plotting political assassinations in the US with ties to Iran. The plot was foiled before execution. The case coincides with heightened security for former President Trump after a separate unrelated threat. US officials are vigilant against Iran's vendetta for Qassem Soleimani's killing.

A Pakistani man alleged to have ties to Iran has been charged in a plot to carry out political assassinations on US soil, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn announced criminal charges against Asif Merchant, accusing him of travelling to New York to try to hire a hitman for the assassinations. The plot was disrupted before it could be carried out.

Court documents do not identify any of the potential targets, but the case was unsealed just weeks after US officials disclosed that a threat on Donald Trump's life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a Pennsylvania rally last month in which Trump was injured by a gunman's bullet. That shooting, carried out by a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, was unrelated to the Iran threat.

US officials have warned for years about Iran's desire to avenge the 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani, who led the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force. That strike was ordered by Trump.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement: "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 and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America's national security.''

(With inputs from agencies.)