Maybe drilling a hole slightly smaller than the needle and cooling down the needle until it would fit inside the hole?
Or spin the needle inside the hole until it welds itself.
You make the length of the business end of the needle protruding from the tip of the iron as short as possible, wrap copper braid around tip+neddle, put on a very small hose clamp on top, then turn on the iron and give the copper braid as much solder as it can absorb.
Then you start soldering, after a few successful ops you figure this is going to be a walk in the park - and are promptly attitude readjusted by a blob of solder dripping off the iron and onto your PCB.
Did succeed in the end, though.
I'm guessing mechanically secure it with something heat tolerant (steel wire) for most of the tip length + lube the interface with molten solder? Then crank it to 11 to get enough heat to the tip?