In April 2024, after spending time in Iran, Merchant arrived in the US from Pakistan and contacted a person he believed could assist him with the scheme. That person reported Merchant’s conduct to law enforcement and became a confidential source.

A 46-year-old Pakistani national, Asif Raza Merchant, with strong ties to Iran, faced charges on Tuesday in connection with a thwarted plot to assassinate a politician or US government officials on American soil. The complaint unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn revealed the charge of murder-for-hire as part of the assassination scheme. Law enforcement successfully intervened before any attack could be executed. US Attorney General Merrick Garland disclosed the charges against Asif Merchant, hinting at Trump as the potential target without particularly naming him. Trump was the US President who ordered the killing of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020, which points the assassination plot towards Trump. Court documents suggest that multiple individuals might have been targeted, given the mention of victims in the plural form.

Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) Chief Christopher Wray said, “This dangerous murder-for-hire plot exposed in today’s charges allegedly was orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook.”

US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that 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 Qasem Soleimani.

Who is Asif Raza Merchant?

• According to court documents, Merchant orchestrated a plot to assassinate a politician or US government officials on US soil.
• In April 2024, after spending time in Iran, Merchant arrived in the United States from Pakistan and contacted a person he believed could assist him with the scheme. That person reported Merchant’s conduct to law enforcement and became a confidential source.
• In early June, Merchant met the confidential source in New York and explained his assassination plot. Merchant told the individual the opportunity he had for the person was not a one-time opportunity and would be ongoing.
• Merchant then made a “finger gun” motion with his hand, indicating that the opportunity was related to a killing.
• Merchant further stated that the intended victims would be “targeted here”, meaning in the United States.
• He instructed the individual to arrange meetings with others whom he could hire to carry out these actions.
• Merchant explained that his plot involved multiple criminal schemes including stealing documents or USB drives from a target’s home; planning a protest; and killing a politician or government official.
• Merchant at the meeting began planning potential assassination scenarios and quizzed the individual on how he would kill a target in the various scenarios.
• Specifically, Merchant asked to explain how the target would die in different scenarios. Merchant told the individual that there would be “security all around” the person.
• Merchant stated that the assassination would occur after he left the United States and he would communicate with the individual from overseas using code words.
• The source asked whether Merchant had spoken to the unidentified “party” back home with whom Merchant was working.
• Merchant responded that he had and the party back home told him to “finalise” the plan and leave the United States.
• In mid-June, Merchant met with the purported hitmen, who were undercover US law enforcement officers in New York.
• Merchant advised the undercover officers that he was looking for three services from them: theft of documents, arranging protests at political rallies, and for them to kill a “political person”.
• Merchant said the hitmen would receive instructions on who to kill either the last week of August or the first week of September after he had departed the United States.
• Merchant then began arranging means to obtain USD 5,000 in cash to pay the undercover officers as an advance payment for the assassination, which he eventually received with assistance from an individual overseas.
• On June 21, Merchant met with the undercover officers in New York and paid them the USD 5,000 advance. One of the undercover officers stated: “Now we’re bonded”, to which Merchant responded: “Yes.”
• The undercover officer added: “Now we know we’re going forward. We’re doing this”, to which Merchant responded, “Yes, absolutely.”
• Merchant subsequently made flight arrangements and planned to leave the United States on July 12 when law enforcement agents placed him under arrest before he could leave the country.

Last week, a man was arrested in Virginia for allegedly threatening to kill the Democratic Party presidential nominee Kamala Harris. “Kamala Harris needs to be put on fire alive. I will do it personally if no one else does… I want her to suffer a slow agonising death,” Frank Lucio Carillo posted on a right-wing social media site, according to the FBI complaint in a Federal court.

He also allegedly threatened President Joe Biden and FBI Chief Wray.

(With inputs from agencies)