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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 actions as he testified to jurors in New York on Wednesday.
Asif Merchant, 47, said Trump wasn’t the only potential target of the 2024 assassination scheme, telling jurors the list included then-President Joe Biden and former presidential candidate and ex-U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. He claimed that he only took part in the plot because Iran ‘s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened his family.
“My family was under threat, and I had to do this,” Merchant testified through an Urdu interpreter. “I was not wanting to do this so willingly.”
Merchant said he had anticipated getting arrested before anyone was killed, intended to cooperate with the U.S. government and had hoped that would help him get a green card.
This image provided by the Justice Department, contained in the complaint supporting the arrest warrant, shows Asif Merchant. (Justice Department via AP, File)
Merchant was indicted in July 2024 after he was recorded on camera outlining a plot on a napkin to kill an unnamed politician with a person who turned out to be an informant. Merchant allegedly also tried to hire two hit men and pay them $5,000, but the men were FBI agents posing as assassins.
Merchant was arrested as he was attempting to leave the country, before he could take any concrete steps to carry out a murder plan. 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 U.S. officials.
Merchant said his handler initially directed him to recruit U.S. residents willing to work for Iran — then escalated the assignment to finding a criminal to organize protests, commit theft, launder money and “maybe have somebody murdered.”
“He did not tell me exactly who it 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 Museum & Hall of Fame in Asheboro, North Carolina, August 21, 2024. (Peter Zay/AFP via Getty Images)
Prosecutors argued that even after U.S. immigration agents stopped him at Houston’s airport in April 2024, searched his belongings and questioned him about trips to Iran, Merchant continued with the alleged plot. He researched Trump rally locations, drafted plans for a shooting at a political event, lined up supposed hit men and scraped together $5,000 from a cousin as a “token of appreciation.”
Merchant said he reported back to his Revolutionary Guard contact, sending what he now claims were fabricated updates hidden inside a book shipped to Iran through intermediaries.
He testified that he felt he had “no other option” but to cooperate because the handler indicated he knew where Merchant’s relatives in Iran lived.
Prosecutors, however, noted in a court filing this week that Merchant never contacted law enforcement before his arrest and failed during FBI interviews to mention details supporting a 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 a strike.
Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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