The two Pennsylvania men who allegedly hurled improvised explosive devices toward a protest against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will face federal charges for “ISIS-inspired terrorism,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch revealed Monday.

Mamdani and Tisch addressed the press near the scene of the crime, the mayoral residence of Gracie Mansion, where far-right provocateur Jake Lang held a protest on Saturday to “Stop the Islamic takeover of New York City.” Tisch said Lang and his supporters were the targets of two homemade bombs that Emir Balat, 18, who had traveled from Pennsylvania with his accused accomplice Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, flung from amid the counter-demonstration. 

Tisch confirmed earlier reporting that the Islamic State appears to have inspired the alleged perpetrators’ actions — but maintained nothing at present pointed to any link between the attempted attack and the ongoing U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran.

“I can confirm this morning that this is being investigated as an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” the commissioner said, noting that so far one of the devices had tested positive for triacetone triperoxide, an explosive used in terrorist bombings across the world. “At this time we do not have any information that connects this investigation to what’s going on overseas in Iran.”

Neither bomb ultimately detonated. The criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York Monday stated that both men waived their Miranda rights and explicitly identified ISIS as their inspiration.

“This isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the Prophet [Muhammad],” Balat told police, according to the charging documents. The complaint continues that Balat requested and received writing materials, and jotted down: “All praise is due to Allah lord of all worlds. I pledge my allegience [sic] to the Islamic State. Die in your rage yu [sic] kuffar!”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation agent deposed for the complaint stated that the written statement reflects common ISIS slogans. Further, the document alleges Balat subsequently told police he had hoped to pull off something “even bigger” than the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which he noted had caused “only three deaths.” The indictment also states that Balat was carrying a Turkish government identification card as well as a Pennsylvania driver’s license. 

The duo face charges of attempted provision of material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, use of a weapon of mass destruction, transportation of explosive materials — including over state lines — and unlawful possession of destructive devices.

Tisch said Monday her department remains in “a heightened state of alert” due to the ongoing U.S. war against Iran , and had deployed “heavy weapons, teams, K-9 units, aviation and more” to secure sensitive locations.

Mamdani, who revealed he was not home at the time of the incident, joined his commissioner in praising the police department and the officers who helped secure the location. He opened his remarks with an attack upon Lang, known for throwing up Nazi salutes at his events, including outside AIPAC headquarters — but strongly reaffirmed his support for each side’s right to protest.

“While I found this protest appalling, I will not waiver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen,” he said. “Ours is a free society, where the right to peaceful protest is sacred. It does not belong only to those we agree with. It belongs to everyone.”

Still, Mamdani continued, “This was a vile protest rooted in white supremacy. Many of the counterprotesters met this display of bigotry peacefully, with a vision of a city that is welcoming to all. But a few did not.”

Condemning Talat and Kayumi, Mamdani, whose own Shi’ite faith is anathema to the Sunni extremism of ISIS, continued, “They are suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism. New York City will never tolerate violence, whether from protests or counterprotests.”

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, confirmed that he would ask Jessica Tisch to stay on as the city’s police commissioner if elected, ending longstanding speculation over his plans for a key role in his potential administration.

Tisch, appointed last year by outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, “took on a broken status quo, started to deliver accountability, rooting out corruption and reducing crime across the five boroughs,” Mamdani said at the second and final general election debate on Wednesday evening.

“I have said time and again that my litmus test for that position will be excellence, and the alignment will be of that position,” Mamdani added. “And I am confident that under a Mamdani administration, we would continue to deliver on that same mission.”

Mamdani’s choice could assuage concerns among moderate Democrats and other crime-conscious New Yorkers who had been hopeful that he would choose Tisch, a widely respected technocrat who previously led the Department of Sanitation.

Tisch, 44, who is Jewish, has not said whether she would plan to continue in her position if Mamdani is elected on Nov. 4. 

Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist and Queens state assemblyman, has faced scrutiny over his past comments on law enforcement — including support for defunding the police. He has moderated during his mayoral campaign and says he no longer backs such efforts, even as he has pledged to pursue some goals that could potentially fuel tension, such as launching a Department of Community Safety “to ensure that mental health experts” instead of police “are responding to the mental health crisis,” he said at the debate. 

Mandani’s opponents, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, also said they would not seek to replace Tisch, though Sliwa, the Republican nominee, said he did not think she would choose to remain in her role if Cuomo or Mamdani is elected. Cuomo, running as an independent, said he did not believe Mamdani would follow through on his promise.

“His position has been to defund, disband the police, she wouldn’t take that,” Cuomo claimed, saying “their philosophies are totally incongruous.”

Elsewhere in the debate Wednesday, Cuomo and Sliwa ramped up their attacks on Mamdani over his strident opposition to Israel and refusal to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada,” continued sources of concern among Jewish voters.

Cuomo, who has recently escalated his criticism of Mamdani to a more personal level, accused him of stoking “the flames of hatred against Jewish people” during a particularly heated moment at the debate — while Sliwa cast the Democratic frontrunner as an “arsonist who fans the flames of antisemitism.”

Mamdani, playing defense on an issue that represents one of his top vulnerabilities, said that there “is room for disagreement on many positions and many policies,” and pushed back against Sliwa’s claim that he supports “global jihad.”

“I’ve heard from New Yorkers about their fears about antisemitism in this city, and what they deserve is a leader who takes it seriously, who roots it out of these five boroughs, not weaponizes it as a means by which to score political points on a debate stage,” Mamdani said.