WASHINGTON: A Pakistani national with ties to Iran has been indicted for allegedly plotting to kill a US official in response to the killing of Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani, US prosecutors said. According to the report of the news agency AFP, the US Department of Justice and the prosecutor said in a statement that 46-year-old Pakistani citizen Asif Merchant allegedly planned to hire a hired killer to kill a politician and a US government official. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that the charge against Asif Merchant for hiring a hired killer falls under the category of terrorism and murder. try to
US Attorney General Brion Pace said that today’s indictment is a message to terrorists here and abroad as it is alleged that Asif Merchant planned to kill an American politician and government official. It has not yet been identified which government official the suspect planned to kill, but the Attorney General has said in the past that there is no evidence linking Asif Merchant to the July 13 assassination of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. have found It should be remembered that Asif Merchant was arrested in America on July 12 when he was preparing to leave the country.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the Pakistani national had close ties with Iran and that the assassination plot was planned directly by Iran. Another official said that those whom Asif Merchant allegedly hired were actually undercover FBI agents. The Justice Department said that Asif Merchant had come to the United States from Pakistan after spending a long time in Iran and had contacted the inmates, whom he believed to be his partners in a plot to kill a politician or government official. can help.it should be noted that the Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in January 2020 in the Iraqi capital of Baghdar in a US drone strike and the Iranian authorities have repeatedly vowed to take revenge.
