US intelligence officials recently confirmed briefing the Donald Trump campaign about Iranian threats against the former Republican presidential nominee. The briefing was acknowledged by the agency in a statement to the press, without revealing if there is evidence of a new plot targeting Trump or if the focus was on previously reported threats from Iran.
Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung mentioned that the meeting included information on “real and specific” threats aiming to “assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States.” However, the Trump campaign declined to provide further details on the briefing.
While Iran has not been directly linked to the attempts on Trump’s life at a rally in Pennsylvania in July and at his Florida golf course more recently, US officials have expressed longstanding concerns about Iran being a threat to both Trump and former administration officials. There have been accusations of Iran attempting to meddle in the US presidential election.
Authorities had received intel in July about an Iranian threat on Trump’s life, prompting increased security measures for the candidate. Following that, a Pakistani man with alleged links to Iran was charged in a plot to execute political assassinations on US soil. Legal filings indicated Trump may have been a potential target.
Additionally, Iranian hackers were reported to have stolen information from Trump’s campaign and attempted, unsuccessfully, to interest news organizations and President Joe Biden’s campaign in the material. Iran, alongside Russia and China, has engaged in online influence operations to stir discord and polarization leading up to the US elections.
Iran, in opposition to Trump’s reelection, views him as a candidate likely to escalate tensions between Washington and Tehran due to actions such as pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, imposing sanctions, and ordering the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned that authorities have been closely monitoring Iran’s threats against various senior officials, including Trump and current Biden administration members. Blinken emphasized that tracking such threats has been a high priority for some time.
In a separate incident, in 2022, an Iranian operative was charged in a plot to assassinate former National Security Advisor John Bolton, believed to be in retaliation for a US airstrike that killed Soleimani.
The Secret Service did not disclose information about potential new threats against Trump or if security measures had been enhanced for the campaign recently. Public statements from the agency indicate that since the July 13 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, Trump has been receiving the highest levels of protection possible.