Donald Trump has claimed he is too busy with the Iran war to give evidence in his defamation case against the BBC.

Lawyers acting for the US president denied he was trying to avoid being deposed and argued, in court documents filed in Florida on Wednesday, that he was preoccupied with “matters of national importance”.

Mr Trump had been due to give evidence under oath on Oct 16 but cancelled. That day, he instead flew to his Mar-a-Lago resort for a fundraiser.

“When matters of national importance required the president to vacate that date, his counsel told the BBC so, and confirmed that the parties would confer to arrive at a replacement date,” the president’s lawyers said.

“Those matters include, but are not limited to, the conflict in Iran, unrest in other parts of the Middle East, the war between Russia and Ukraine, the White House accord on super intelligence and other matters that have significantly impacted the United States’ national security and economy.”

The court should recognise “the singular nature of his role in our system of government, the complexity of his schedule, and the national security implications involved”, they said.

Since March, Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed the US has already won its war against Iran, declaring that its navy, air defences and leadership have been wiped out.

Mr Trump’s lawyers said it was “wrong” for the BBC to accuse the president of dodging his deposition, and that the corporation had not properly consulted his team to set a date.

They claimed the president would only be available at some point between Jan 11 and Jan 22 and could not be videoed while he gave evidence – a demand the BBC argued later on Wednesday was “unexplained, unjustified and untimely”.

Mr Trump is suing the BBC for $10bn (£7.5bn) after The Telegraph revealed Panorama had spliced together two sections of a speech he delivered on Jan 6 2021, creating the impression he had incited the storming of the Capitol.

The BBC has been sceptical of the president’s claim that he is too busy with national security matters, including the Iran war, to attend his deposition.

“On October 16 Plaintiff [Mr Trump] attended and addressed a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia, alongside Plaintiff’s favoured candidates in Georgia’s upcoming US senate and gubernatorial elections,” its lawyers noted on Monday.

Read More: Trump ‘too busy with Iran war’ to show up for BBC defamation case