Pakistani man with Iran ties charged with plot to kill US politician

(NewsNation) — A Pakistani man with ties to Iran has been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a U.S. politician, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Asif Merchant, also known as Asif Raza Merchant, 46, was arrested in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate a U.S. politician on U.S. soil, allegedly attempting to hire a hit man to do the job.

Law enforcement officers stopped the plan before it could take place, using undercover officers, according to charging documents.

“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. “A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any U.S. citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI.”  

Court documents do not identify any of the potential targets. But U.S. officials acknowledged last month that a threat on Donald Trump’s life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a Pennsylvania rally in which Trump was injured by a gunman's bullet. That July 13 shooting, carried out by a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, was unrelated to the Iran threat and Merchant's arrest has no connection to the Trump assassination attempt, a law enforcement official said.

But an FBI agent's affidavit suggests Merchant had current or former high-level officials like Trump in mind.

U.S. 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 when he was president. The U.S. government since then has paid for security for multiple Trump administration officials, and in 2022, the Justice Department charged an Iranian operative in a foiled plot to kill Bolton.

Merchant is alleged to have contacted someone he believed could help him with the scheme after arriving in the U.S. from Pakistan, having previously spent time in Iran. The person he contacted alerted law enforcement and became a confidential source.

Merchant reportedly told the source that this was not a one-time plan and there would be ongoing opportunities before describing multiple criminal schemes, including stealing documents or USB drives from a target, planning a protest and killing a U.S. politician or government official.

While describing the assassination plot, Merchant made a “finger gun” motion with his hand, indicating he meant murder, charging documents stated. Merchant said that the people he worked for overseas told him to “finalize” the plan, so he asked the CS to set up meetings with hit men who could carry out the plot. Merchant stated that he performed “Istikharah from Quran before doing this,” meaning Merchant prayed to God “about whether [he] should do this work or not” and received "clarity from God to carry out his mission," a court document said.

The documents show he pressed for details on how it would work, noting that the target would have security around them. Merchant allegedly also sought details on how the unnamed politician would be killed in different scenarios. Court documents say he also developed a series of code words to communicate and instructed the source not to write them down.

According to investigators, Merchant said he has a wife and children in Pakistan and a wife and children in Iran. He planned to be out of the country by the time the plot took place and said he would communicate with the source from overseas, documents show.

In mid-June, Merchant is said to have met with the purported hit men, who were actually law enforcement officers. After paying the undercover officers $5,000, Merchant allegedly planned to leave the country before the assassination occurred.

He was arrested in July and is in federal custody. During the arrest, an affidavit states that agents found the handwritten note with the code words he intended to use to communicate about the assassination plot. The FBI is investigating the case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.