Washington: A 46-year-old Pakistani national who is said to have close ties with Iran was arrested with charged in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced charges against Pakistani national Asif Reza, indicating that he was involved in the assassination of a US politician, though no specific names were mentioned.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that 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.
“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 Qassem Soleimani,” Attorney General stated further.
Donald Trump was the President when the US Killed Major General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020 in a drone attack in 2020, which points out that Former President Trump was the target of assassination.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said the “dangerous murder-for-hire” plot allegedly was orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook.
Asif Reza who is currently in federal custody, said that he has a wife and children in Iran and another wife and children in home country Pakistan.
Asif Reza was bonding with the undercover officers of US law enforcement for the plot whom he believed were professional killers.
The court papers said the plot involved multiple elements: stealing documents or USB drives from a target’s home; planning protests, and killing a politician or government official.
Merchant made up code names for each element in the plot: “tee-shirt” for protests, “flannel shirt” for stealing documents, “fleece jacket” for the assassination, and “yarn-dye” for their meetings.
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