The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged a man with ties to the Iranian government with plotting political assassinations in the US, and FBI officials reportedly believe former President Donald Trump was one of the targets, a US official briefed on the matter told CNN on Tuesday.
An indictment was unsealed in a New York court on Tuesday against Asif Merchant, a 46-year-old Pakistani national with ties to the Iranian government. Merchant is accused of engaging in a “kill-for-hire” plot to “assassinate a politician or U.S. government official on U.S. soil.” according to To Court documents According to a Department of Justice press release, FBI officials believe Marchant intended to assassinate Trump but thwarted the plan before he could act. Said CNN. (Related: Officials say “several” U.S. soldiers injured in rocket attack on Iraqi military base)
The plot “is straight out of the Iranian playbook,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement Tuesday. “Any foreign-sponsored plot to assassinate public officials and American citizens is a threat to our national security and will be addressed with the full force and resources of the FBI.”
TOP SHOT – Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks to a press conference after casting his vote in the parliamentary runoff elections in Tehran on May 10, 2024. (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)
Law enforcement officials told CNN there is no connection between Marchant's plot and the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. Trump was shot and nearly killed at a rally in what was blamed on a catastrophic security “failure” by the US Secret Service.
According to the Justice Department, Merchant told police he had been in Iran and had family there, and that he traveled from the United States to Pakistan in April 2024 and “contacted individuals who he believed would assist him in planning the assassination.”
According to the Justice Department, the individual agreed to report Merchant's activities and act as a “confidential source” for law enforcement. Merchant met with the source in June 2024 and outlined plans to steal files from “target homes,” organize protests, and assassinate U.S. government officials and politicians.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 30: The American flag flies above a sign at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Headquarters Building in Washington, DC on January 20, 2024. (Photo by J. David Ake/Getty Images)
According to the Justice Department, Merchant told sources that the assassination would be carried out after he left the United States and that he was speaking with unidentified individuals in his “home country” to finalize the plans. Merchant was arrested in July “before leaving the country” after meeting with an undercover agent he believed to be the hit man, arranging for the money to carry out the assassination and securing a flight plan.
The Justice Department statement did not say which politicians or US government officials Marchant had targeted, but a person familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN that the FBI believes Trump was also targeted, along with current and former government officials.
Iran has long sought revenge against President Trump and his top aides for the U.S. assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, a former leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and well-known to Iranians, in 2020. After Merchant's arrest, the FBI passed information about his plot to the Secret Service, which subsequently stepped up security protection for President Trump.
As an independent, nonpartisan news service, all content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation is available free of charge to any legitimate news publisher with a large readership. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and affiliation with the DCNF. If you have any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
