A Pakistani national standing trial in the United States has told a court that he was pressured by Iranian security operatives to participate in an alleged assassination plot targeting American political figures, including US President Donald Trump.
Okay News reports that the case is unfolding at a time of rising tensions between the United States and Iran following recent military confrontations.
According to testimony cited by international media reports, 47-year-old Asif Raza Merchant said members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened his family in Tehran, forcing him to cooperate with a plan that involved attempting to hire a hitman.
Merchant told the court he did not willingly agree to the operation and believed he would eventually be caught before any attack could occur.
The alleged scheme reportedly referenced President Donald Trump, former U.S. President Joe Biden, and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.
Merchant, who was charged in 2024, has pleaded not guilty and was arrested after the people he tried to recruit for the operation turned out to be undercover FBI agents.
