Pakistan national says IRGC coerced him in Trump assassination plot

A Pakistan link has emerged in a chilling plot to assassinate U.S. president Donald Trump, with 47‑year‑old Pakistani national Asif Merchant testifying in a New York court that he was tasked to kill Trump and other American politicians. Merchant claims operatives tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps coerced him into the murder‑for‑hire scheme by threatening his family in Tehran, even as U.S. prosecutors say he tried to recruit hitmen on American soil in what they describe as IRGC revenge for the 2020 killing of General Qassem Soleimani.