Federal authorities busted up an assassination plot on U.S. soil, prosecutors revealed Tuesday, saying a Pakistani man operating as an agent of Iran was trying to kill American officials.

Investigators said Asif Merchant tried to recruit hitmen but ended up with two undercover agents. He didn’t reveal his targets but told the agents they were going to strike against “government officials,” according to court documents.

He also hoped to foment protests and steal documents from targets’ homes, the FBI said.

Authorities said Mr. Merchant arrived in the U.S. in April and quickly recruited a New York man for business dealings. He eventually made clear those dealings were the attempted assassinations, which is when the man went to authorities.

Officials didn’t go into detail about why they tied the plot to Iran other than to stress that Mr. Merchant was in Iran just before he came to the U.S., and he spoke highly of the Islamic Republic.

Still, it was clear they saw the plot as part of Iran’s attempt to retaliate for the 2020 drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.

“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the case.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the plot was “straight out of the Iranian playbook.”

Among Mr. Merchant’s ties to Iran was that he keeps a wife and children there, as well as another wife and more children in Pakistan, the FBI said.

Mr. Merchant is charged with murder-for-hire.

The Washington Times has reached out to Mr. Merchant’s lawyer for comment.

Prosecutors said Mr. Merchant described his potential assassination targets as “the ones who are hurting Pakistan and the world” and said he had prayed over his actions and felt he was on a mission from God.

He asked his U.S. contact to help him recruit hitmen, and he said he wanted to be back in Pakistan before any attempts were made. He said he would give them their targets at the end of August or the beginning of September.

The agents acting as hitmen said Mr. Merchant said he was representing others, leaving them with the impression he was working for people outside the U.S. He said he would pay through hawalas, or informal money transfers that avoid the banking system.

Mr. Merchant set up a code system with the hit men, including the term “fleece jacket” to indicate the actual murder. “Denim jacket” was the code for making the payments.

Mr. Merchant planned to leave the U.S. on July 12 but FBI agents showed up at his Texas residence before then to arrest him, according to prosecutors.

Rep. Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, connected the plot to the recent failed assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.

“President Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris must make it clear that any attempt by Iran to murder former President Trump or members of his administration is an act of war,” Mr. Turner said.

He said he’s reviewed intelligence showing Iran’s interest in targeting Mr. Trump.

In a hearing with then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle a week after the shooting Mr. Turner said if the lone 20-year-old gunman was able to come within an inch of killing the former president it would have been even easier for an Iran-backed hitman.

Mr. Merchant’s case comes months after an Iraqi man was sentenced for plotting to smuggle a terrorist hit squad across the southern border to try to assassinate former President George W. Bush.

Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab was seeking retaliation for the chaos in his home country, which he blamed on Mr. Bush. He was slapped with a 14-year sentence for that plot. 

Shihab entered on a visa he obtained from a corrupt official at the U.S. embassy in Iraq and once here he sought desperately to stay, including filing an asylum application and even trying to arrange a bogus marriage. He obtained fake papers documenting a divorce from his wife in Iraq but never managed to set up the sham marriage.

The FBI didn’t say what sort of visa Mr. Merchant used to come to the U.S.

Mr. Wray, in testimony to Congress late last month, said he’s grown increasingly worried about the ability of foreign terrorists to exploit the U.S. immigration system to cause havoc here.

The House Judiciary Committee reported Monday that Homeland Security has caught and released 99 people whose names appeared on the terrorism watchlist from 2021 to 2023.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.