10
Loading video...
By Tom O'Connor
Deputy Editor, National Security and Foreign Policy
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Iran has denied any connection to an alleged plot to kill former President Donald Trump reportedly identified by U.S. intelligence, asserting that the Republican front-runner must still face criminal justice over the slaying of one of the Islamic Republic's most powerful generals.
The alleged plot, first reported Tuesday by CNN based on multiple unnamed sources, was said to have been obtained by U.S. intelligence from a human source in recent weeks and led to an increase in U.S. Secret Service security around Trump, who suffered a gunshot wound to his right ear in an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday. The shooter, identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks, is not believed to have any ties to the supposed Iran-tied plot, according to the report.
In response to the news, the Iranian Mission to the United Nations told Newsweek that "these accusations are unsubstantiated and malicious."
Read More on News
"From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Trump is a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in a court of law for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani," the Iranian Mission said. "Iran has chosen the legal path to bring him to justice."
Responding to Newsweek's request for comment, Secret Service Communications Chief Anthony Guglielmi said that "the Secret Service and other agencies are constantly receiving new potential threat information and taking action to adjust resources as needed."
"We cannot comment on any specific threat stream other than to say that the Secret Service takes threats seriously and responds accordingly," he added.
...
Iranian officials have repeatedly called for Trump and other senior officials of his administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to face prison time over the killing of Soleimani along with his entourage at Baghdad International Airport in January 2020. Months later, in June, a Tehran prosecutor issued a warrant for the then-president's arrest on charges of murder and terrorism.
The following year, around the anniversary of the killing in the U.S. strike, an Iraqi court also issued a warrant for Trump's arrest on murder charges tied to the deaths of Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was also killed in the U.S. attack.
Iranian media has occasionally portrayed images of the former U.S. leader in crosshairs, threats that the Secret Service previously told Newsweek it took "seriously" around the second anniversary of Soleimani's killing.
On the third anniversary, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Newsweek that "Iran continues to plot against U.S. citizens and interests as so-called revenge for the death of Qassem Soleimani, including by threatening current and former U.S. officials," and that "the United States will protect and defend its citizens," including "present and former U.S. government officials."
In an exclusive interview conducted just a day before the news broke of a new alleged Iranian plot against Trump, Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani told Newsweek that Iran would "respect the choice made by the American people" as Trump and President Joe Biden prepare for rematch in the presidential election this November, and that "Americans should respect the choice made by the Iranian people" in their own election held this month.
Bagheri also slammed the Trump administration's 2018 decision to withdraw from the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), through which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. The Biden administration sought to re-enter the agreement, but negotiations ultimately unraveled, followed by further U.S. sanctions being levied against Tehran and Iran accelerating nuclear activities.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have been aggravated by the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. Iran is a key backer of Hamas as well as a coalition of militias known as the Axis of Resistance that has conducted attacks against Israel and U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
During the first 2024 presidential debate on June 27 between Biden and Trump, the former president argued that Hamas would have never conducted the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war had he been in office as Iran was "broke" during his administration.
Biden countered by pointing out that more than 100 U.S. troops were injured in Iran's retaliatory strike against a U.S. base in Iraq following Soleimani's killing and that he had "organized the world against Iran" when the Islamic Republic conducted a massive missile and drone attack against Israel in April in response to the killing of Iranian military officials in Syria.
The Iranian Mission to the U.N. told Newsweek following the debate that it did not take the statements of the two candidates too seriously.
"We have no intention of interfering in the domestic politics of the United States," the Iranian Mission said. "However, we do not lend much credence to the remarks made in these debates and electoral activities, as they are more emotional than logical and lack strategic backing."
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines