In 2020, Donald Trump approved the deadly drone attack on Iranian commander Kassem Soleimani. He was to pay for it. But the US authorities reacted in time.
The United States says it has foiled the assassination of a US government official or politician. A man with ties to Iran who is believed to have planned the assassination of a US government official has been arrested and charged in the United States, the US Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.
The FBI believes that then-President Trump and other former or current members of the US government were targets of the planned assassinations, CNN reported, citing a US government official.
In 2020, Trump ordered the drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the then Iranian commander of the Quds Force. Iranian government officials have repeatedly announced that they will take revenge for the killing.
The 46-year-old Pakistani Asif M. is accused of recruiting contract killers in the USA. They were supposed to avenge the deadly attack on the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Kassem Soleimani, according to the indictment.
Suspect had close ties to Iran
The suspect spent some time in Iran, according to prosecutors. He was reportedly arrested on July 12 as he was attempting to leave the United States. A federal judge ordered his detention on July 16, according to court documents. The Pakistani man is now facing charges of contract killing in federal court in the New York borough of Brooklyn.
The director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Christopher Wray, said that the 46-year-old had “close ties” to Iran. Another FBI official said that the assassins the Pakistani allegedly wanted to hire were actually undercover FBI agents.
“For years, the Department of Justice has worked aggressively to counter Iran’s brazen and relentless efforts to retaliate against American officials for the killing of Iranian General Soleimani,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Due to a lack of evidence, he concluded that there was a connection to the attempted assassination of Trump in the town of Butler in the state of Pennsylvania on July 13. Fire was opened on Trump with a semi-automatic rifle, who barely survived and was hit in the right ear.
