On Tuesday a 46-year-old Pakistani national who is believed to have close relations with Iran was arrested and charged in connection with a plot to assassinate Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced charges against the Pakistani national Asif Reza, highlighting that he was involved in the assassination of a US politician.
‘For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran’s brazen and efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani’, said the US Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement.
Notably, 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.
The court papers said ‘The plot involved various elements: stealing documents or USB drives from a target’s home; planning protests, and killing a politician or government official’, said the court papers.
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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