A businessman from Pakistan, currently on trial for attempted terrorism in the US has reportedly testified that he was recruited by a Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) handler of Iran with a hit job in 2024 – to kill now President Donald Trump, then President Joe Biden and ex-UN ambassador Nikki Haley.
The Revolutionary Guard, which gained prominence under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was recently killed in the US-Israeli strikes, is deemed a “foreign terrorist organisation” by Washington.
The testimony by Asif Merchant, a 47-year-old Pakistani native, comes at a time when the US and Iran are engaged in a big global conflict, with strikes being reported in Iran, Israel and several other Middle Eastern countries also being caught in the crosshairs.
“My family was under threat, and I had to do this,” Merchant told jurors in New York through his Urdu language interpreter on Wednesday, reported news agency AP.
Merchant, who was arrested on July 12, 2024, said he saw it coming. In his testimony, the Pakistani businessman sought relief from the court saying he knew he would be caught before the attempt and had planned on cooperating with the US government.
‘Hit men’ cover of FBI agents
Asif Merchant was not tasked with killing a politician himself. His role was more that of a planner who also researched Trump’s movements and rally locations. For the actual killing job, the Pakistani native had lined up two hit men and scrambled together $5,000 from a cousin to pay them a “token of appreciation”, according to AP.
However, the plot failed as the supposed hit men being paid to by Merchant were actually under-cover FBI agents.
While Merchant claims he had “no other option” but to play along with the assignment, prosecutors argued that he didn’t seek out law enforcement before his arrest in 2024.
On this, Merchant told jurors he didn’t think agents would believe his story, because their questions suggested “they think that I’m some type of super-spy”, an assertion he has strictly denied.
2 families in Iran and Pakistan
Before getting involved with the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard of Iran, Asif Merchant reportedly had a 20-year banking career in Pakistan and had been associated with several businesses, including clothing, car sales, banana exports, insulation imports.
Asif Merchant told the court that his visits to the US for his garment business reportedly piqued the interest of his Revolutionary Guard contact in 2022 and he was later tasked with many assignments, including stealing and money laundering.
Among the many tasks assigned to Merchant, one was that to “have somebody murdered”, he reportedly told the jurors.
“You traveled 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, according to AP.
He has two families, one in Pakistan and the other in Iran.
In his court filing, Merchant submitted that he wasn’t “willing” to take up the hit job but had to do so as his family in Iran was under threat.