(New York) A Pakistani man tried in a New York court for plotting the assassination of American political figures including Donald Trump, explained Wednesday that he had worked with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, American media reported.
Published at
Asif Merchant, 47, on trial for “terrorism” and “sponsored murder” in Brooklyn federal court, said he was forced to participate in the plot to protect his family in Tehran from the Revolutionary Guards, reports the New York Times.
Arrested in July 2024 by federal police agents (FBI) posing as hitmen, Asif Merchant wanted to defend himself alone.
“My family was threatened and I had no choice,” the accused testified through an Urdu interpreter. “I was not ready to do it willingly,” he said, according to comments reported by the Washington Post.
He said he expected to be arrested before anyone was killed and that he intended to cooperate with the U.S. government.
Merchant said his superior asked him to look for U.S. residents interested in working for Iran. Then he was given another mission: find a criminal to organize protests, commit theft, launder money and, perhaps, have someone murdered.
“He didn’t tell me exactly who it was, but he gave me three names: Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Nikki Haley (former governor of South Carolina and candidate for the Republican nomination),” he said.
The trial is taking place against the backdrop of the war against Iran which began on Saturday and which cost the life of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a US strike had killed the head of the secret Iranian unit that had plotted to assassinate Mr Trump in 2024.
“Iran tried to assassinate President Trump, and President Trump had the last laugh,” he insisted, adding that the United States had known “for a long time that Iran intended to attempt to assassinate President Trump and/or other American officials.”
The Iranian government has denied plotting to assassinate Trump or other US officials.
