ISLAMABAD: Pakistan seeks more details about a foiled assassination plot in the United States involving a Pakistani national. Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said they are in contact with Washington and awaiting more information.
In a statement, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said, “We have seen the media reports. We are in touch with the US authorities and await further details.”
She added that they have also noted the US officials’ statements that this is an ongoing investigation.
“Before giving our formal reaction, we need to be sure of the antecedents of the individual in question,” she said.
A Pakistani national with alleged ties to Iran has been charged in the US in connection to a foiled plot to assassinate a US politician or government officials, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.
Asif Merchant, 46, sought to recruit people in the US to carry out the plot in retaliation for the US killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ top commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020, according to a criminal complaint.
Merchant, who prosecutors allege spent time in Iran before traveling to the US, was charged with murder for hire in federal court in New York’s Brooklyn borough. A federal judge ordered him detained on July 16, according to court records.
“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 Soleimani,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
FBI investigators believe that former president Donald Trump, who approved the drone strike on Soleimani, and other current and former US government officials were the intended targets of the plot, CNN reported, citing a US official.
Court documents do not name the alleged targets of the plot. Merchant told a law enforcement informant that there would be “security all around” one target, according to the criminal complaint.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment further. Trump’s presidential campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.
