Pakistani Man Claims Iran Forced Him Into Plot to Kill Trump and Other U.S. Officials During Trial

A Pakistani national, Asif Merchant, told a United States court on Wednesday that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) coerced him into a scheme to assassinate President Donald Trump and other senior American political figures.

Merchant faces terrorism and murder-for-hire charges in a case the Justice Department filed in 2024. The trial opened last week and has since drawn wide international attention, given its direct connection to some of the most explosive geopolitical events of recent times.

Naija News gathered that Merchant took the stand and told jurors he did not participate in the alleged plot out of personal will or loyalty to Iran. He told the court that fear for his family, who live in Tehran, pushed him into cooperating with the IRGC, not any ideological conviction or personal motivation.

According to a New York Times report on the proceedings, Merchant told the court that his Iranian handler never gave him a direct order to kill a specific person. However, during conversations in the Iranian capital, the handler named three targets.

The names include Trump, then-President Joe Biden, and former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who lost her bid to secure the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

According to the court proceedings, Merchant told the court directly, “I did not want to do this so willingly,” a statement his legal team has leaned on as a central pillar of his coercion defence.

Prosecutors Reject Coercion Defence

The US Justice Department, however, moved swiftly to discredit that argument. In a letter sent to the presiding judge on Tuesday, prosecutors stated there was a “lack of evidentiary support for a true duress or coercion,” making clear they do not accept Merchant’s account of events.

The government’s position is that Merchant actively recruited individuals within the United States to carry out the plot. Prosecutors described the operation as one the IRGC designed specifically as retaliation for the United States killing of its top commander, General Qassem Soleimani, in a 2020 drone strike ordered by Trump during his first term in office.

The IRGC holds enormous influence within Iran. The corps controls military operations, manages vast economic interests, and runs an intelligence network that stretches well beyond Iran’s borders. Its role in the alleged plot underscores how seriously the U.S. government has treated the case.

Trial Opens Alongside U.S. Strikes on Iran

The timing of the trial carries significant weight as the proceedings began just days before Trump authorised joint United States and Israeli strikes on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other senior Iranian officials, an operation that dramatically escalated tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Speaking to ABC News on Sunday, Trump directly connected the alleged assassination plot to his decision to authorise the strike on Khamenei. Trump told the network, “I got him before he got me,” a statement that drew immediate global reaction.

Meanwhile, Iran has consistently denied all accusations that it targeted Trump or any other American official. Tehran has not issued a fresh statement in direct response to the latest developments from the trial.

Follow on Google News