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A Pakistani businessman accused of trying to hire hitmen to kill political targets, including President Donald Trump, insisted that Iran forced his hand while testifying before a jury in New York on Wednesday.
Asif Merchant, 47, said Trump was not the only potential target of the 2024 assassination plot, telling jurors that the list included then-President Joe Biden and former presidential candidate and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. He claimed he only participated in the plot because Iran's powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened his family.
“My family was threatened and I had to do this,” Merchant testified through an Urdu interpreter. “I didn't want to do this so willingly.”
Merchant said he had anticipated being arrested before anyone was killed, that he intended to cooperate with the U.S. government and that he hoped it would help him obtain a green card.
This image provided by the Department of Justice, contained in the complaint supporting the arrest warrant, shows Asif Merchant. (Department of Justice via AP, File)
Merchant was indicted in July 2024 after a camera recorded him describing on a napkin a plot to kill an unnamed politician with a person who turned out to be an informant. Merchant also allegedly tried to hire two hitmen and pay them $5,000, but the men were FBI agents posing as assassins.
Merchant was arrested while attempting to leave the country, before he could take concrete steps to carry out an assassination plot. Authorities, at the time, said he appeared to be acting at the behest of Iran.
A sketch showing Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national with alleged ties to Iran, appearing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (Christine Cornell)
The Iranian government has denied plotting to kill Trump or other US officials.
Merchant said his supervisor initially ordered him to recruit American residents willing to work for Iran, then escalated the task to finding a criminal to organize protests, commit robberies, launder money and “maybe have someone murdered.”
“He didn't tell me exactly who he is, but he told me: He named three people: Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Nikki Haley,” he said.
Then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks behind bulletproof glass during a campaign rally at the North Carolina Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum in Asheboro, North Carolina, on August 21, 2024. (Peter Zay/AFP via Getty Images)
Prosecutors argued that even after U.S. immigration agents detained him at the Houston airport in April 2024, searched his belongings and questioned him about travel to Iran, Merchant continued the alleged plot. He researched Trump rally locations, drew up plans for a shooting at a political event, lined up alleged hitmen and collected $5,000 from a cousin as a “token of gratitude.”
FEDS SAY A PAKISTAN NATIONAL BACKED BY IRAN CONSPIRED TO KILL TRUMP AND OTHERS IN A KILLING FOR HIRE SCHEME
Merchant said he informed his Revolutionary Guard contact and sent what he now claims were fabricated updates hidden inside a book sent to Iran through intermediaries.
He testified that he felt he had “no choice” but to cooperate because the handler indicated he knew where Merchant's relatives lived in Iran.
However, prosecutors noted in a court filing this week that Merchant never contacted police before his arrest and did not mention details during FBI interviews to support the claim that he acted under duress.
If convicted, Merchant faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
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Merchant's trial comes against the backdrop of Trump launching a major combat operation in coordination with Israel against Iran, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in one strike.
Fox News Digital's Ashley Oliver and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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