The 47-year-old from Pakistan was arrested in the summer of 2024, accused of trying to hire a hitman for political assassinations in the United States. Last week, the trial began in New York.
During Wednesday's court proceedings, the man, who has family in Tehran, claimed that Iran's Revolutionary Guard pressured him to carry out the assassination plan.
"My family was threatened. I had to," he said, according to The Washington Post.
The man's Iranian contact reportedly mentioned three possible targets: then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, then-President Joe Biden, and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
The United States has long warned of Iranian retaliation for the deadly attack on top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
