Pakistani national with alleged ties to Iran charged in plot to kill US leaders

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - A Pakistani national has been charged with murder-for-hire in an alleged plot to assassinate current and former government officials, the US Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Asif Merchant, 46, arrived from Pakistan in April after spending time in Iran.

He met with an undercover FBI agent posing as a hitman and paid him $5,000 as an advance for the assassination plot, according to the statement.

Merchant was arrested in New York and is currently in federal custody.

In the statement, US Attorney General Merrick Garland noted the Justice Department’s commitment to countering threats from Iran.

"The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against American citizens," Garland said.

FBI Director Christopher Wray described the plot as "a threat to our national security" and vowed that it "will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI."

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters there is an ongoing investigation and that "there has been no evidence to suggest that the individual named in today's indictment has any connection to the assassination attempt against former President (Donald) Trump that happened in Butler, Pennsylvania."

Merchant was arrested while trying to leave the country a day before Trump was shot on July 13.