US federal officials charge Asif Merchant with trying to orchestrate killing for Iran

Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of working with a hitman to carry out assassinations after travelling to New York. United States district court

New York federal prosecutors charged a suspect with trying to hire a hit man to conduct an assassination or other crimes for Iran, part of an investigation that raised safety concerns before an apparently unrelated shooting at a Donald Trump rally.

A complaint in federal court in Brooklyn charges Asif Merchant, 46, of Pakistan, with a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate a politician or United States government official on American soil.

Authorities said they foiled the plot before any violence could be attempted - in part because the people Merchant allegedly tried to hire were undercover FBI agents.

According to court documents, in June, Merchant met with men who he thought were contract killers, and told them he would have a number of assignments, including an assassination of targets whom he would identify later.

Merchant was arrested, according to court papers, on July 12 - one day before a 20-year-old man in Pennsylvania fired shots during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing Trump’s ear.

Investigators do not believe the Iranian plot and the actions by the Pennsylvania gunmen are related, according to law enforcement officials.

The alleged Iranian-backed plot, however, had raised concerns about Trump’s safety in the weeks before the shooting, according to US officials familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.

The investigation prompted a number of meetings among top officials at the Justice Department in the weeks leading up to the July 13 assassination attempt against Trump, according to one senior US official.

The alleged plot raised security concerns among law enforcement officials in part because it involved an individual travelling to the US to hire specific people to carry out violence or other crimes, the officials said.

“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a written statement Tuesday.

“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, and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America’s national security,” Garland said.

FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said the alleged plot “is straight out of the Iranian playbook,” and was met with “the full might and resources of the FBI”.

A screen grab captured from a video shows a bleeding Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump as he is rushed offstage during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Photo / Getty Images

According to the criminal complaint, Merchant arrived in the US from Pakistan in April and contacted someone he believed could help him with the plot. That person reported Merchant’s request to law enforcement, who set up a sting operation.

Merchant allegedly told the source that his plan involved several criminal schemes, including stealing documents or computer data from a target’s home, planning a protest and killing a politician or government official.

He then described a series of potential assassination scenarios, including situations in which there was extensive security around the person, according to court documents. He also indicated that any such assassination would take place after Merchant had left the US, probably in late August or early September, officials said.