A Pakistani man charged in a U.S. criminal case over an alleged plan to kill former President Donald Trump told jurors that he did not willingly conspire with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to media reports covering testimony.
The Justice Department has accused the defendant, identified as Asif Merchant, of attempting to recruit individuals inside the United States to take part in a plot aimed at Trump and other American political figures. Prosecutors say the alleged scheme was retaliation for Washington’s killing of the Guards Corps' top commander, Qassem Soleimani.
The Revolutionary Guards Corps, which plays a central role in Iran, combines military capabilities, economic power and an intelligence apparatus, according to characterizations in the case record.
During testimony this week, the defendant told the court he did not join the effort of his own free will and said he participated to protect his family living in Tehran. He was quoted as saying:
"I was not wanting to do this so willingly."
Prosecutors have pushed back on the defendant’s account, pointing to what they describe as a "lack of evidentiary support for a true duress or coercion" in a written filing to the judge dated from 2024. That letter was submitted to the court and cited by the prosecution in ongoing litigation.
In his testimony, the defendant said he had not been specifically ordered to kill a named individual, but that during discussions in Tehran his Iranian handler mentioned three people by name. In addition to Trump, those named were Joe Biden, who was president at the time of the alleged recruitment efforts, and Nikki Haley, who sought the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election but was not successful.
Attorneys for the defendant did not immediately provide a response to requests for comment. The White House likewise did not immediately offer comment on the court proceedings.
The trial began last week. Its opening came days before a separate series of U.S.-ordered strikes carried out with Israel that the reporting says killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials in Iran. President Trump referenced an alleged Iranian plot in comments to ABC News regarding that joint U.S.-Israeli operation, saying, "I got him before he got me." Tehran has denied accusations that it targeted Trump and other U.S. officials.
The proceedings continue amid contested factual claims about the extent of the defendant’s voluntariness, the scope of alleged recruitment activities inside the United States, and competing legal arguments over the presence or absence of coercion.