By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was briefed on Tuesday by U.S. 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 U.S. government officials were working to protect Trump and ensure the elections were not impacted.
Iran has previously denied U.S. claims of interfering in American affairs. Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to a request for comment late on Tuesday.
An ODNI spokesperson acknowledged the briefing on Tuesday but declined to address any specifics.
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 U.S. 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.
U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. elections.
In August, the United States accused Iran of launching cyber operations against the campaigns of both U.S. presidential candidates. Iran denied the allegations.
Tehran says Washington has interfered in its affairs for decades, citing events ranging from a 1953 coup against a prime minister to the 2020 killing of its military commander in a U.S. drone strike.
