Washington, Aug 6 (AP) A Pakistani man alleged to have ties to Iran has been charged in a plot to carry out political assassinations on US soil, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn announced criminal charges against Asif Merchant, accusing him of travelling to New York to try to hire a hitman for the assassinations. The plot was disrupted before it could be carried out.

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Court documents do not identify any of the potential targets, but the case was unsealed just weeks after US officials disclosed that a threat on Donald Trump's life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a Pennsylvania rally last month in which Trump was injured by a gunman's bullet. That shooting, carried out by a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, was unrelated to the Iran threat.

US officials have warned for years about Iran's desire to avenge the 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani, who led the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force. That strike was ordered by Trump.

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Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement: “The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran's lethal plotting against American citizens and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America's national security." (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)