look news india
Who is Asif Merchant: Asif Merchant, a Pakistani citizen with ties to Iran, was arrested in the US last month on charges of plotting to kill politicians and US officials. Asif Merchant had also allegedly conspired to target former US President Donald Trump. However, it is not confirmed whether he was involved in the attack on Trump in Pennsylvania. The US Justice Department said that 46-year-old Asif Merchant had also tried to hire an assassin to kill a politician or official in the US. According to information received from sources, he wanted to avenge the killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qasim Soleimani.
FBI Director Christopher Ray said in a statement that the deadly assassination was allegedly carried out by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is part of Iran's strategy to publicly expose the threat to national security. Any foreign plot to kill a government official or US citizen is a threat to national security.
Who is Asif Merchant?
According to court documents, Asif Merchant is a Pakistani citizen. According to media reports, he was born in Karachi around 1978. The FBI said that Asif Merchant's wife and children are in Iran and he has another family in Pakistan. The US Justice Department said that according to his travel records, Asif Merchant mostly visited Iran, Syria and Iraq.
arrested on charges of plotting murder
The FBI said Asif Merchant came to the United States from Pakistan in April 2024 and contacted a man who could help him plot the assassination. He then met in New York in June with the man who later informed authorities of Merchant's plan. Merchant told the alleged hitman that the US was his target. The man said his plot involved several criminal schemes, including stealing documents or USB drives from someone's home, planning protests and even assassinating a politician or government official.
The FBI said that Merchant told the alleged killer that the murder will be done after I leave the US and I will communicate with you from abroad using a code word. According to the FBI statement, Merchant planned to kill an official in the last week of August or the first week of September. On June 21, Merchant also paid US$5,000 to the hitman to carry out the plot. He then prepared to leave the country and planned to leave for the US on July 12. However, he was caught by the authorities before he could leave.
Attack on Trump
Let us tell you that a few days ago, former US President Donald Trump was addressing a rally in Pennsylvania when a 20-year-old attacker fired a bullet at him, one of the bullets hit him on the upper part of his ear. The former president barely survived this attack.