Trump briefed on ‘real and specific’ Iran assassination threats
Donald Trump has been briefed by US intelligence officials about “real and specific” threats from Iran to assassinate him, his campaign has said.
Officials have identified that Iranian threats have “heightened in the past few months”, the former president’s campaign claimed, adding that the US government is working to protect Trump and ensure the November 5 election is not impacted.
“President Trump was briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilise and sow chaos in the United States,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
The campaign did not elaborate on the claims, which come as international pressure increases on Iran to reduce soaring tensions in Lebanon, where Israel has carried out a bombing campaign against sites belonging to Lebanese group Hezbollah which is backed by Tehran.
Iran rejected accusations that it is trying to kill Trump earlier this summer, shortly after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania, killing one person and wounding the presidential candidate.
Days after the July 13 assassination attempt, US media reported that authorities had received intelligence on an alleged Iranian plot against the Republican, prompting his protection to be boosted.
Iran rejected the “malicious” accusations.
Earlier this month, a Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an alleged plot to assassinate an American politician in retaliation for the 2020 killing by the US of Iranian military commander Qassim Soleimani.
The defendant named Trump as a potential target but had not conceived the scheme as a plan to assassinate the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The US has also accused Iran of a hack targeting Trump’s campaign, alleging that Tehran is seeking to influence the presidential election.
Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York and the ODNI did not immediately respond to requests for comment late on Tuesday.
Federal authorities are separately investigating an apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course in mid-September and the July 13 shooting. There has been no indication of Iranian involvement in either of those.
On Tuesday Ryan Routh, 58, was charged with the attempted assassination of the former president in Florida.
