‘Planned to kill Trump under pressure’; Iranian spies forced him to do so, says Pak man

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani man claimed that Iranian spies forced him to kill US President Donald Trump, former President Joe Biden and former Governor Nikki Haley. Asif Merchant, (47) is presently facing trial for attempting to kill the three. He told the court that he worked with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against his will.

The US Justice Department has charged Asif with recruiting people in the country to kill political figures, including Trump, in retaliation for the US killing of Qassem Soleimani, the corps’ top commander, in 2020. The leading candidates in the presidential election were Trump and Biden at the time. Haley dropped out of the race a month earlier.

Asif is a former bank official. His export business collapsed. He told the court that he had to be a part of the plot to kill US officials to save his family. I had no other options. They threatened my family.

Asif revealed that he began working with Iranian spies in early 2023. He helped them launder money to evade US sanctions. He testified that his Iranian spy handler - whom he named as Mehrdad Yousef (a member of the IRGC) ordered him to go to the US in 2024 to carry out the assassination plot as well as steal unidentified documents.

Asif was arrested in 2024 while planning the murder. FBI's secret security cameras caught him inside a motel while planning to kill a politician. However, Asif told the court that he knew he would be arrested and was mentally prepared for it. He also said that he wanted to tell US authorities about the conspiracy. Asif's wife and three children still live in Pakistan. Reports say that if convicted, he could face life in prison.