Pakistani Man Asif Merchant on Trial in New York Over Alleged Trump Assassination Plot Linked to Iran’s IRGC

A Pakistani citizen, Asif Merchant, who was arrested on charges of planning the assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump, has appeared in court in New York as the trial against him begins. During the proceedings, he told the court that he had been working A Pakistani citizen, Asif Merchant, who was arrested on charges of planning the assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump, has appeared in court in New York as the trial against him begins. During the proceedings, he told the court that he had been working with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and that the plan involved recruiting hired assassins.

On Wednesday, Asif Merchant told the court that he was not acting of his own free will in the alleged conspiracy to carry out assassinations in cooperation with the IRGC.

The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that Asif Merchant was attempting to find hired killers in the United States. The plan was allegedly to target Trump and other American politicians in retaliation for the killing of IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani.

It should be recalled that General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s overseas operations and a commander in the IRGC, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020. Iranian officials have repeatedly vowed to avenge his death.

Asif Merchant is accused of meeting a hitman in June 2024 and paying $5,000 as an advance for carrying out a killing. However, the person he believed to be a hired assassin was actually an undercover FBI agent.

According to court documents, Merchant allegedly planned to leave the United States before the plot could be carried out and had booked a flight for July 12, 2024. However, U.S. authorities arrested him on the same day before he could leave the country.

I made the plan under pressure, not by choice

During questioning in Brooklyn Federal Court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nina Gupta asked Merchant:

“You came to the United States to recruit mafia members to kill a politician, correct?”

Merchant replied: “That is correct.”

However, during the proceedings Merchant said:

“I was not doing this of my own free will.”

According to him, he was trying to protect his family living in Tehran.

Prosecutors rejected this claim and said there is no evidence that Merchant was under pressure or coercion.

Merchant said he expected to be arrested before anyone was killed. He said he intended to cooperate with the U.S. government and hoped this cooperation would help him obtain a green card.

He also said he had not been given orders to kill a specific individual, but that his Iranian contact had mentioned three names during discussions in Tehran. These included Donald Trump, Joe Biden (who was the U.S. president at the time), and Nikki Haley, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential electio

Merchant describes his background

During the hearing, Merchant described himself as a successful businessman. He said that after a career in banking he worked in banana exports, car sales, and importing fiberglass insulation, and later joined his uncle’s garment business.

Merchant told the court that he has two wives and five children. One wife is Pakistani and the other Iranian, whom he met during a religious pilgrimage to Karbala in Iraq.

“I agreed to work for the Iranian government”

According to Merchant’s statement, he began working for an IRGC officer named Mehrdad Yousuf in late 2022 through his cousin Hasnain.

Merchant said:

“They asked me if I would be interested in doing some work for the Iranian government, and I agreed.”

Initially, his job involved sending money to Iran through the informal and illegal hawala system, but later their discussions became more dangerous.

Merchant said that when he expressed interest in starting a garment business in the United States, Yousuf advised him to travel to the U.S. and recruit people who were sympathetic to Iran. He also provided Merchant with training on how to avoid surveillance.

In March 2024, Merchant traveled to Iran and met Yousuf, who instructed him to look for criminals, preferably mafia members. He was asked to develop a four-point plan:

Organize protests

Steal documents

Launder money

Possibly arrange the killing of someone

Merchant said he was worried about what would happen to his wife and adopted daughter in Iran, which is why he went along with the plan.

He claimed that he was merely going through the motions, such as searching online for locations of Trump’s rallies and sending reports to Yousuf. He believed that sooner or later he would be arrested.

Merchant said he continued sending reports to the IRGC contact, including fabricated observations, and that these were hidden inside a book and sent to Iran through different people.

He said he had no other choice, because the Iranian handler had hinted that he knew Merchant’s relatives in Iran and where they lived.

Merchant’s lawyers and the White House were asked for comment but did not respond.

The trial against Merchant began last week, just days before Trump ordered strikes against Iran.

While discussing the U.S.-Israel joint operation, Trump referred to the alleged Iranian plot and said:

“I took them out before they could take me out.”

Tehran has denied allegations that it targeted Trump or other U.S. officials.

“I knew I would not succeed”

Merchant said during the hearing that he knew he would not succeed.

Prosecutors asked him whether he knew he was working with a designated terrorist organization, to which he replied yes.

They also asked whether he knew he was being recorded while writing the plan on a handkerchief in a hotel room.

He said no.

Merchant said he had been cooperating with U.S. authorities and wanted his family in Iran to move to the United States. He claimed that his communication with U.S. authorities had eventually stopped.

He added:

“It seems they thought I was some kind of big spy.”

Who is Asif Merchant and how was he arrested?

According to U.S. Department of Justice documents, his full name is Asif Raza Merchant, and he is a Pakistani citizen.

Court documents state that in April 2024, Merchant spent some time in Iran and later traveled to the United States from Pakistan.

The person Merchant contacted reportedly informed law enforcement in New York about him.

According to the documents, Merchant met this informant in New York in early June, where he allegedly explained details of the assassination plan.

The documents say Merchant even gestured with his hand to imitate a gun while discussing his objectives.

The alleged plan included stealing documents from a target’s home, organizing protests, and arranging the killing of a politician or government official.

Documents claim that Merchant asked the person to introduce him to hired killers, after which he was connected to undercover FBI agents, to whom he allegedly paid $5,000 in advance.