Who is Asif Merchant? Pak man with Iran links charged in assassination plots in US

​A 46-year-old Pakistani man, Asif Merchant, has been charged by the US Department of Justice for plotting to kill politicians, government officials on the US soil. Prosecutors in Brooklyn announced criminal charges against Asif Merchant, accusing him of travelling to New York for the purposes of trying to hire a hitman for the assassinations. The plot was disrupted before it could be carried out. The document did not name any potential target but CNN reported that former president Donald Trump and other current and former US government officials might be the targets of the plot.