(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The FBI is claiming to have foiled a sophisticated Iran-sponsored terror plot, in which a Pakistani was attempting to hire hitmen to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil.
But the court records show that the “hitmen” were, in fact, undercover FBI agents.
The case looks similar to the supposed 2022 Iran plot to kill former national security adviser John Bolton. In that case, the FBI claimed that a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Qods Force tried assassinating Bolton—but the Iranian was never confirmed to be an IRGC-QF member, and the “assassin” he was trying to hire was an FBI informant.
In the case announced Tuesday, the Justice Department said that the defendant, Asif Merchant, traveled to New York in April for the purpose of paying a $5,000 advance to the two undercover U.S. law enforcement officers. Merchant was arrested last month before he could leave the U.S.
“Fortunately, the assassins Merchant allegedly tried to hire were undercover FBI Agents,” said Acting Assistant Director Christie Curtis of the FBI New York Field Office.
Court documents do not identify any of the potential targets, and parts of the complaint remain sealed—the DOJ cited an ongoing investigation for the secrecy. The court docs do not in any way explain how Iran was involved in the Pakistani’s hairbrained scheme.
The new DOJ bombshell arrices just weeks after U.S. officials disclosed that a threat on Donald Trump’s life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a Pennsylvania rally last month in which Trump was injured by a gunman’s bullet.
That shooting, carried out by a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, has no apparent connection to Iran. Merchant was arrested on July 12, one day before the rally where Trump was shot, and the instructions prosecutors say he gave to the men he thought he was hiring were for killings to take place in August or September — after he had left the country.
Federal officials identified Merchant as a Pakistani citizen who has said he has a wife and children in Iran. He traveled frequently to Iran, Syria and Iraq, the Justice Department said.
U.S. officials have warned for years about Iran’s desire to avenge the 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani, who led the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. That strike was ordered by Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
