Trump Briefed on Alleged Assassination Threats by Iran, his Campaign Says

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 24: Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Johnny Mercer Theatre on September 24, 2024 in Savannah, Georgia. Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 24: Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Johnny Mercer Theatre on September 24, 2024 in Savannah, Georgia. Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP
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Trump Briefed on Alleged Assassination Threats by Iran, his Campaign Says

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 24: Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Johnny Mercer Theatre on September 24, 2024 in Savannah, Georgia. Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 24: Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Johnny Mercer Theatre on September 24, 2024 in Savannah, Georgia. Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was briefed on Tuesday by US intelligence officials on alleged threats from Iran to assassinate him, Trump's campaign said.
"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 destabilize and sow chaos in the United States," the campaign said in a statement.
The campaign said that intelligence officials have identified that Iranian threats have "heightened in the past few months" and US government officials were working to protect Trump and ensure the elections were not impacted.
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 Qassem 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.
Federal authorities are separately probing an apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course in mid-September and a July 13 shooting of the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania. There has been no indication of Iranian involvement in either of those.
US government agencies said last week Iranian hackers sent emails containing stolen material from the Republican former president's campaign to people involved in Democratic President Joe Biden's then re-election campaign, part of an alleged broader effort by Tehran to influence the US election.
Biden stepped aside as candidate in late July and was replaced by Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who faces Trump in a tight race for the Nov. 5 US elections.
In August, the United States accused Iran of launching cyber operations against the campaigns of both US presidential candidates. Iran denied the allegations.



Iran Denies Targeting Ex-US officials

25 September 2024, US, Cherokee: Former US president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally inside the Mosack Group manufacturing warehouse in Mint Hill. Photo: Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
25 September 2024, US, Cherokee: Former US president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally inside the Mosack Group manufacturing warehouse in Mint Hill. Photo: Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Iran Denies Targeting Ex-US officials

25 September 2024, US, Cherokee: Former US president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally inside the Mosack Group manufacturing warehouse in Mint Hill. Photo: Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
25 September 2024, US, Cherokee: Former US president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally inside the Mosack Group manufacturing warehouse in Mint Hill. Photo: Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Iran said on Thursday that accusations it had targeted former US officials were baseless, after former US president Donald Trump implicated Iran, without offering evidence, in assassination attempts against him.
"It is obvious that such accusations are just a part of creating the election atmosphere in the US...., and not even worth a response," Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said in a statement.
Trump, the Republican candidate to return to the presidency, said on Wednesday Iran may have been behind recent attempts to assassinate him and suggested that if he were president and another country threatened a US presidential candidate, it risked being "blown to smithereens.”
"There have been two assassination attempts on my life that we know of, and they may or may not involve, but possibly do, Iran, but I don’t really know," Trump said at an event a pipe-fittings plant in Mint Hill, North Carolina.
Trump made his remarks after US intelligence officials briefed him a day earlier on "real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him," according to his campaign.
Federal authorities are probing assassination attempts targeting Trump at his Florida golf course in mid-September and at a rally in Pennsylvania in July. There has been no public suggestion by law enforcement agencies of involvement by Iran or any other foreign power in either incident.