US charges Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran in foiled assassination plot, that Iran denied
Khayam Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office spokesperson said that Islamabad was in touch with the authorities in Washington and awaiting further details after reports emerged of a Pakistani national’s alleged involvement in the foiled assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump.
In a statement, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said: “We have seen the media reports. We are in touch with the US authorities and await further details.”
The spokesperson said that they have also noted the statements by US officials that this is an ongoing investigation.
“Before giving our formal reaction, we also need to be sure of the antecedents of the individual in question,” she added.
A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran has been charged in the US in connection to a foiled plot to assassinate a US politician or government officials, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.
Asif Merchant, 46, sought to recruit people in the US to carry out the plot in retaliation for the US killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ top commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020, according to a criminal complaint.
Merchant, who prosecutors allege spent time in Iran before traveling to the US, was charged with murder for hire in federal court in New York’s Brooklyn borough. A federal judge ordered him detained on July 16, according to court records.
“For years, 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 General Soleimani,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
FBI investigators believe that former president Donald Trump, who approved the drone strike on Soleimani, and other current and former US government officials were the intended targets of the plot, CNN reported, citing a US official.
Court documents do not name the alleged targets of the plot. Merchant told a law enforcement informant that there would be “security all around” one target, according to the criminal complaint.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment further. Trump’s presidential campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.
