Israeli intelligence has warned the United States of what it says is a new Iranian plot to assassinate US President Donald Trump, days after Trump publicly asserted that he was at the top of Tehran’s assassination list.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Israel recently passed fresh intelligence to Washington indicating that Iran has been developing a new plan targeting the US president.
The development comes as hostilities between the United States and Iran continue to intensify, with the two countries exchanging fire in the Gulf over the past several days.
CNN reported that US intelligence agencies had been receiving a steady flow of information in recent weeks about possible threats against Trump. However, officials described the Israeli warning as the first intelligence pointing to a specific alleged assassination plot.
Some US officials, according to CNN, believe the intelligence provided by Israel may also have been intended to shape Trump's decision-making over whether to expand US military operations against Iran.
Details of the alleged plot have not been made public. Two sources familiar with the matter told CNN that US intelligence agencies had neither independently confirmed the information nor been monitoring the specific threat before it was brought to their attention by Israel.
Iran has repeatedly vowed to retaliate for the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, who was killed in a US strike ordered by Trump during his first presidential term.
Tehran has also pledged revenge for the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. During Khamenei's funeral, mourners chanted “Death to Trump" and carried banners declaring, “We Will Kill Trump."
Addressing reporters in Ankara on Wednesday, Trump referred to the threats against him.
“They want to take out the U.S. leader—me," he said. “I’m on every list. I saw this morning, I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn’t last very long. These are evil, sick people. And we have to root out that cancer. That cancer. You know what you do? You’ve got to cut out cancer early. And that’s the way I feel," he said.
Trump later said he had recently been informed that he headed a new Iranian assassination list, although it remains uncertain whether he was referring to the intelligence that Israel had recently shared with US officials.
The conflict with Iran has also highlighted widening differences between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the direction of the military campaign.
Netanyahu has advocated continuing strikes on Iran in pursuit of wider strategic goals, while Trump has indicated that he favours de-escalation, arguing that an extended conflict could carry significant consequences for the global economy.
Last month, the United States helped broker a fragile ceasefire with Iran in an attempt to limit the fighting. Trump has since declared that the ceasefire is no longer in effect.
Despite the policy differences, Trump and Netanyahu held a phone conversation on Thursday. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said afterward that both leaders agreed to continue “coordination between the countries." The statement also said Trump updated Netanyahu on recent US operations in the Gulf.
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