A Pakistani businessman on trial in the United States has told a court that he was recruited by an Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) handler for a plot in 2024 to assassinate prominent American political figures, including now President Donald Trump, then President Joe Biden and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.
The testimony from Asif Merchant, a 47-year-old Pakistani national, comes as tensions remain high between the United States and Iran amid ongoing military confrontations across the Middle East.
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Testimony in US federal court
Merchant is facing charges related to attempted terrorism and is currently on trial in a federal court in New York. According to reports, he told jurors that he was pressured into participating in the plot because his family's safety was at risk.
"My family was under threat, and I had to do this," Hindustan Times quoted Merchant as informing jurors in New York through his Urdu language interpreter on Wednesday.
The alleged plot involved planning the killing of senior US political figures. Merchant claimed he believed he would eventually be caught and had planned to cooperate with US authorities.
Assassination plan
According to prosecutors, Merchant was not expected to carry out the killings himself. Instead, he allegedly worked as a planner who studied Trump's movements and possible rally locations.
To execute the attack, Merchant arranged for two individuals whom he believed to be hired killers. He also reportedly gathered $5,000 from a cousin as what he described as a "token of appreciation" payment, reported AP.
However, the alleged plan never moved forward because the individuals he believed to be hitmen were actually undercover FBI agents.
Prosecutors argued that despite claiming he was acting under pressure, Merchant never approached law enforcement before his arrest in July 2024.
Responding to this point, Merchant said he believed authorities would not trust his claims. He told jurors the investigators' questions made it seem like "they think that I'm some type of super-spy".
The alleged recruitment
Before the alleged plot, Merchant reportedly had a long career in Pakistan's banking sector spanning about two decades. He was also involved in several business ventures, including clothing, car sales, banana exports and insulation imports.
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Merchant told the court that his business visits to the United States attracted the attention of his Iranian contact around 2022. Over time, he was allegedly assigned various tasks, including theft and money laundering.
At one point, prosecutors questioned him directly about the purpose of his trip to the US.
"You travelled to the United States for the purpose of hiring Mafia members to kill a politician, correct?” Assistant US Attorney Nina Gupta asked during her turn questioning Merchant Wednesday in a Brooklyn federal court. "That's right," Merchant replied.
Merchant reportedly has two families, one living in Pakistan and another in Iran. He told the court he was not "willing" to take on the alleged assassination task but did so because his family in Iran was under threat.
