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The allegation sounded like the stuff of spy movies: A Pakistani businessman trying to hire hit men, even handing them $5,000 in cash, to kill a U.S. politician on behalf of Iran<\/a> ‘s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was true, and potential targets of the 2024 scheme included now-President Donald Trump<\/a>, then-President Joe Biden<\/a> and former presidential candidate and ex-U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley<\/a>, the man told jurors at his attempted terrorism trial<\/a> in New York on Wednesday. But he insisted his actions were driven by fear for loved ones in Iran, and he figured he’d be apprehended before anything came of the scheme. <\/p>\n \u201cMy family was under threat, and I had to do this,\u201d the defendant, Asif Merchant, testified through an Urdu interpreter. \u201cI was not wanting to do this so willingly.\u201d<\/p>\n Merchant said he had anticipated getting arrested before anyone was killed, intended to cooperate with the U.S. government and had hoped that would help him get a green card.<\/p>\n U.S. authorities were, indeed, on to him \u2014 the supposed hit men he paid were actually undercover FBI agents \u2014 and he was arrested<\/a> on July 12, 2024, a day before an unrelated attempt on Trump’s life<\/a> in Butler, Pennsylvania. Merchant did sit for voluntary FBI interviews, but he ultimately ended up with a trial, not a cooperation deal. <\/p>\n \u201cYou traveled to the United States for the purpose of hiring Mafia members to kill a politician, correct?\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Nina Gupta asked during her turn questioning Merchant Wednesday in a Brooklyn federal court.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d Merchant replied, his demeanor as matter-of-fact as his testimony was unusual.<\/p>\n The trial is unfolding amid the less than week-old Iran war<\/a>, which killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a> in a strike that Trump summed up as<\/a> “I got him before he got me.\u201d Jurors are instructed to ignore news pertaining to the case.<\/p>\n The Iranian government has denied plotting to kill Trump or other U.S. officials. <\/p>\n Merchant, 47, had a roughly 20-year banking career in Pakistan before getting involved in an array of businesses: clothing, car sales, banana exports, insulation imports. He openly has two families, one in Pakistan and the other in Iran \u2014 where, he said, he was introduced around the end of 2022 to a Revolutionary Guard intelligence operative. They initially spoke about getting involved in a hawala, an informal money transfer system, Merchant said.<\/p>\n Merchant testified that his periodic visits to the U.S. for his garment business piqued the interest of his Revolutionary Guard contact, who trained him on countersurveillance techniques. <\/p>\n The U.S. deems the Revolutionary Guard a \u201cforeign terrorist organization.\u201d Formally called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the force has been prominent in Iran under Khamenei. <\/p>\n Merchant said the handler told him to seek U.S. residents interested in working for Iran. Then came another assignment: Look for a criminal to arrange protests, steal things, do some money laundering, \u201cand maybe have somebody murdered,\u201d Merchant recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cHe did not tell me exactly who it is, but he told me \u2014 he named three people: Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Nikki Haley,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n After U.S. immigration agents pulled Merchant aside at the Houston airport in April 2024, searched his possessions and asked about his travels to Iran, he concluded that he was under surveillance. But still he researched Trump rally locations, sketched out a plot for a shooting at a political rally, lined up the supposed hit men and scrambled together $5,000 from a cousin to pay them a \u201ctoken of appreciation.\u201d <\/p>\n He even reported back to his Revolutionary Guard contact, sending observations \u2014 fake, Merchant said \u2014 tucked into a book that he shipped to Iran through a series of intermediaries.<\/p>\n Merchant said he \u201chad no other option\u201d than to play along because the handler had indicated that he knew who Merchant\u2019s Iranian relatives were and where they lived. <\/p>\n In a court filing this week, prosecutors noted that Merchant didn’t seek out law enforcement to help with his purported predicament before he was arrested. He testified that he couldn’t turn to authorities because his handler had people watching him. <\/p>\n Prosecutors also said that in his FBI interviews, Merchant \u201cneglected to mention any facts that could have supported\u201d an argument that he acted under duress. <\/p>\n Merchant told jurors Wednesday that he didn’t think agents would believe his story, because their questions suggested \u201cthey think that I’m some type of super-spy.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cAnd are you a super-spy?” defense lawyer Avraham Moskowitz asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Merchant said. \u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n