Shakeri, an Afghan national living in Iran, told the FBI that a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him last September to set aside other work he was doing and assemble a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.

The president made the comment during a visit from Israel’s prime minister, and he signed an executive order to intensify a campaign intended to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program.

President Donald Trump says if Iran made an assassination attempt on him or another senior leader he would call for the "total obliteration" of the country. He spoke to reporters in the Oval Office after signing a memo to put more economic pressure on Iran.