A man has been charged in the United States with allegedly planning to assassinate American politicians. He is said to have ties to Iran and wants to kill Donald Trump, among others. This was reported by the American Department of Justice.
Pakistani national Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of trying to hire a hitman in New York to seek retaliation for the US assassination attempt on Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020, when Donald Trump was president and approved the drone strike.
Merchant is believed to have spent time in Iran before coming to the U.S. from Pakistan in April, according to the FBI and the Justice Department.
Security for the Republican presidential candidate was increased in June after authorities learned of an Iranian plot to assassinate him, the BBC reports. Officials, including Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have also faced threats since the assassination of Soleimani.
Arrested
Merchant was arrested on July 12 after one of the people he contacted to help with the assassination plot turned himself in to authorities. “The Department of Justice has worked for years to stop Iran’s relentless efforts to retaliate against U.S. officials for the killing of … Soleimani,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
According to the Justice Department, there is no evidence to suggest a connection between this case and the recent assassination attempt on Trump.
