Trump campaign says US intelligence warned of Iranian assassination threats
His campaign says US intelligence has informed Donald Trump of assassination threats from Iran.
The Republican presidential candidate has been briefed “on real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an attempt to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States,” the campaign said in a statement.
The post did not detail the complaints, and it is unclear whether the threats mentioned are new or previously reported.
The Iranian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Tehran has previously denied US accusations of meddling in its internal affairs.
Trump posted on social media site X, formerly Twitter, that “there have been major threats to my life from Iran”.
“Iran has made many moves that have failed, but they will try again.”
He said an attack on him was the attacker’s “death wish” and thanked Congress for approving more money for the Secret Service.
“Intelligence officials have determined that these persistent and coordinated attacks have increased over the past several months,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“Law enforcement officials across agencies are working to ensure President Trump is protected and the election is not tampered with,” he added.
The BBC has contacted the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence for comment.
The incident comes after Mr Trump survived an assassination attempt on July 13, when he was wounded and another person was killed in a shooting at a protest in Pennsylvania. The motive is unknown and the incident remains under investigation.
In the days that followed, US media reported that officials had received intelligence about an alleged Iranian plot against the former president. Iranian officials at the time dismissed the allegations as “malicious”, the BBC’s US partner CBS News reported.
“If they do ‘assassinate President Trump,’ which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth – If that doesn’t happen, America’s leaders will be seen as ‘cowardly’ cowards!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform at the time.
Then on September 15, a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle protruding from a fence at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The agent opened fire while Mr. Trump was playing a round of golf.
US prosecutors have charged Ryan Wesley RouthA man was arrested near a golf course, for plotting to assassinate a presidential candidate.
There is no indication that Iran was involved in either case.
Last month, the Trump campaign said Some of its internal communications were hacked. and believes the incident was targeted by Iranian spies.
In 2022, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was charged by the United States with plotting to assassinate Trump’s former National Security Adviser, John Bolton.
The US Department of Justice said Shahram Poursafi attempted to pay individuals in the US $300,000 (£224,000) to carry out the killing, in revenge for the US airstrike that killed Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.
