A Pakistani man with links to Iran has been charged in a conspiracy to carry out political assassinations on US soil, including Republican nominee Donald Trump and other leaders.
The case of murder-for-hire was disclosed by the US Justice Department on Tuesday. FBI director Christopher Wray called the scheme a "dangerous murder-for-hire plot... straight out of the Iranian playbook.".
The man has been identified as 46-year-old Asif Merchant.
According to the justice department's indictment, Merchant arrived in the US from Pakistan after spending some time in Iran.
In June, Asif travelled to New York for the purpose of meeting a man whom he believed he was hiring to conduct the killings. He even paid a $5,000 advance to two would-be assassins, who were actually undercover law enforcement officials, the news agency Associated Press reported while citing federal officers. As he was planning to leave the US, he was arrested last month. Before leaving, he told the would-be assassins that he would provide further instructions, including the names of the targets, in August and September after he returned to Pakistan.
While the indictment does not mention Donald Trump's name, sources cited by CBS stated that the Republican nominee was one of the intended targets.
After US authorities learned about the Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump, the security of the former US President was increased.
"A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any US citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI," Christopher Wray was quoted as saying by the BBC in its report.
This came a month after 20-year-old Thomas Mathhew Crooks tried to assassinate the former president at an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. However, in the justice department's indictment, no link to the July 13 assassination attempt has been mentioned.
