Editor-DN
A Pakistani man from Iran has been arrested on charges of plotting the assassination of a US official.
Washington:
A Pakistani man from Iran has been arrested on charges of plotting to kill a US official in retaliation for the US killing of Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.
Asif Raza Merchant, 46, allegedly tried to hire a hitman to kill a politician or US government official in the US, the department said in a statement.
“For years, the Department of Justice has been working aggressively to counter Iran’s brazen and relentless efforts to retaliate against US government officials for the killing of Iranian General Soleimani,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s foreign military operations, was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020. Iranian officials have repeatedly vowed to “revenge” the killing.
“The Department of Justice will spare no resources to stop and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s deadly conspiracy against American citizens,” Garland said.
The victim was not identified, but the attorney general said there was no evidence linking Merchant to the July 13 assassination of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
FBI Director Christopher Vary said the Pakistani national “had close ties to Iran” and that the alleged murder-for-hire plot was “straight out of the Iranian playbook.”
Another FBI official said those whom the killer Merchant allegedly tried to hire were actually undercover FBI agents.
Merchant was arrested on July 12 as he planned to leave the country.
In August 2022, the United States charged a member of the Revolutionary Guard with plotting to assassinate former US national security adviser John Bolton.
Shahram Porsafi, who remains at large, offered to pay $300,000 to an individual in the United States to kill Bolton, the Justice Department said.
Iran has rejected claims that it conspired to kill Bolton.
(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
