Accused plotter Asif Raza Merchant testifies he was coerced by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to target US politicians, fearing for his family’s safety in Tehran.

WASHINGTON: A Pakistani man on trial for an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting US politicians testified that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps pressured him into the scheme.

Asif Raza Merchant, 47, told the court he was forced to comply to protect his family living in Tehran from the Guards.

“I was not wanting to do this so willingly,” Merchant said through an interpreter, according to the Washington Post.

He pleaded not guilty after being charged in September 2024 with seeking to hire a hitman to assassinate unidentified US politicians.

Merchant testified that his Iranian contact mentioned three potential targets: President Donald Trump (pic), former president Joe Biden and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.

He clarified he was never ordered to kill a specific person.

The defendant said he believed he would be caught before anyone was harmed.

US officials have previously stated Merchant had “close ties to Iran” and described the alleged plot as “straight out of the Iranian regime’s playbook.”

Merchant said he began working with a Guards member around 2022, who asked if he was “interested in doing some work with the Iranian government,” the New York Times reported.

He was instructed to orchestrate a plot involving arranging protests, stealing documents, laundering money and a potential killing.

The Times reported Merchant agreed due to fears for his wife and adopted daughter in Iran.

He was arrested after allegedly attempting to hire hitmen who were undercover FBI agents.

The Revolutionary Guards have previously sought retaliation against US officials, including Trump, after the 2020 killing of their commander Qasem Soleimani.

The trial proceeds amid ongoing US and Israeli attacks on Iran, which have resulted in the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 The Sun Malaysia