Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has claimed “big threats” on his life after his US intelligence briefing on alleged threats from Iran to assassinate him. The former United States president said on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday that “the entire US military is watching and waiting”. “Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but they will try again … I am surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever seen before,” he said.
Trump’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement on Tuesday that Trump was warned by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) “regarding real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States”. “Intelligence officials have identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months,” Cheung said. Law enforcement officials were working to ensure Trump was protected and the November 5 presidential election was free from interference, he added.
Iran has previously denied Washington’s claims of interfering in US affairs. Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to a request by the Reuters news agency for comment late on Tuesday. An ODNI spokesperson acknowledged the briefing on Tuesday but declined to address any specifics, Reuters said.
It was not immediately clear if the threats referred to by the campaign and Trump himself were new or threats that had previously been reported. Trump last month accused Iran of hacking his campaign, with his team alleging the Iranian government was stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents without providing evidence. The allegations came after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign attempts to interfere in this year’s US election campaign.
Iran rejected accusations that it was trying to kill Trump two months ago, shortly after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania, killing one person and wounding the presidential contender. 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.
Separately, earlier this month, a Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an alleged plot to assassinate Trump in retaliation for the 2020 killing by the US of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Trump was president at the time and ordered the attack. 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 cited by Reuters. Federal authorities are separately investigating an apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course in mid-September. There has been no indication of Iranian involvement.
Iranian Interference in US Elections
The intelligence briefing was part of a broader pattern of Iranian interference in the US election, as intelligence officials believe that Tehran is meddling in the election to hurt Trump and boost his opponent, Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. Iran’s efforts to interfere in the US election include hacking the Trump campaign and attempting to leak internal information to media outlets. In August, federal prosecutors charged a Pakistani man with an Iranian-backed murder-for-hire plot targeting an unidentified U.S. politician. These actions demonstrate Iran’s increasingly aggressive approach to stoking discord and undermining confidence in the US electoral process.
Iranian Retaliation for the Killing of Qasem Soleimani
Iran’s alleged assassination plots against Trump are seen as retaliation for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, which Trump ordered in 2020. The Trump administration has accused Iran of plotting to kill former national security advisor John Bolton, as well as other former U.S. government officials and anti-Tehran activists around the world. This retaliation is rooted in Iran’s belief that Trump’s actions were directly responsible for Soleimani’s death.
The US Response to Iranian Threats
Despite the heightened threats, US officials have stated that there is no evidence of Iranian involvement in the assassination attempts on Trump in Pennsylvania and Florida. The Biden administration has alerted the Secret Service of an unspecified threat to Trump by Iran, but the shooting in Pennsylvania is not believed to be related to any Iranian effort. The US continues to disrupt plots by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force, which have been involved in numerous attempts and other acts of violence against perceived enemies of the regime.
Looking Ahead
The 2024 presidential election is crucial for both the US and Iran. Intelligence officials have identified this election as “particularly consequential” for Iran’s national security, and it is clear that the threats against Trump are part of a broader campaign of interference and retaliation. As the election approaches, it remains to be seen how the US will respond to these threats and the extent to which they will affect the outcome of the race.
