“Significant threats to my life from Iran. The entire US military is watching and waiting,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. “Iran has taken steps that have not succeeded, but they will try again… I am surrounded by more men, guns and weapons than I have ever seen.”
Trump’s post came hours after his campaign team announced in a statement that intelligence agencies had warned the former president and Republican candidate for the November elections about threats from Iran to assassinate him.
“President Trump was briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence of credible and specific Iranian threats to assassinate him in an attempt to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States,” campaign communications director Stephen Chung said in a statement.
“Intelligence officials have determined that these ongoing and coordinated attacks have intensified in recent months, and law enforcement officials from all agencies are working to ensure that President Trump is protected and that the election is free of any interference,” he added.
The campaign team did not elaborate on the allegations, which come as world leaders are trying to prevent the war in the Middle East from expanding due to the escalation of violence between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel.
For its part, Tehran has rejected the accusations that it was trying to kill Trump, which come about three months after a gunman opened fire on a rally in Pennsylvania, killing one person and wounding Trump in the ear.
Days after the assassination attempt on July 13, US media reported that authorities had received intelligence about an alleged Iranian plot against Trump, which led to increased protection for him.
The National Security Council responded to the information, confirming that it had been monitoring “for years Iranian threats against the previous administration of President Donald Trump.” Tehran has rejected the “malicious” accusations.
“If they assassinate President Trump, which is always a possibility, I hope America will wipe Iran off the face of the Earth. If they don’t, American leaders will be seen as cowards,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network at the time.
Tehran has made no secret of its desire for revenge after the killing of former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020, when Trump was president.
The American billionaire was the target of a second assassination attempt this month while playing golf in Florida. The suspect, Ryan Roth, 58, was arrested on September 15 as he tried to flee after Secret Service agents spotted him carrying a semi-automatic rifle near the golf course where Trump was. Roth was charged Tuesday with attempting to assassinate Trump.
Iranian cyber attackers
On the other hand, US intelligence agencies have accused Iran of targeting the Trump campaign through cyber hacking operations, confirming that Tehran is seeking to influence the 2024 elections.
US authorities announced in a joint statement this month issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that Iranian cyber attackers offered to provide “stolen non-public” materials issued by the Trump campaign to White House employees before current President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race.
The statement stated that “foreign actors are intensifying their activities to influence the election” as Election Day approaches in November, pointing the finger at Russia, Iran, and China, as they “seek, to some extent, to exacerbate divisions in American society for their own benefit.”
US agencies confirmed that Iranian cyber attackers also tried to provide information stolen from the Trump campaign to US media outlets, without mentioning their names.
For its part, Tehran strongly denied these accusations.
The campaign team of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris announced on August 13 that it had been subjected to cyber hacking by a foreign party, without specifying the country behind this attempt.
Americans will vote on November 5, and opinion polls show that Trump and Harris are close. The latter launched her election campaign after Joe Biden withdrew from the elections earlier this summer.
