Israel Shares Intelligence With US on Iranian Plot to Assassinate Trump

The Wall Street Journal reported overnight that Israel recently provided the United States with intelligence indicating Iran is planning another assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. The report, citing sources familiar with the details, claims Trump alluded to threats against his life during the NATO summit in Ankara this week. The White House declined to comment but noted Trump himself said, "They want to eliminate the leader of the US - me. I'm on their list. I saw it this morning. So far I've had some luck, but it's not certain it will continue."

Israel's embassy in Washington refused to comment, and Iran's UN mission had no response at the time of publication. According to the intelligence reportedly shared with the US, Iran has sought to assassinate Trump since the killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020, an operation ordered by Trump that escalated tensions between the two countries. During the funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei this week, chants calling for Trump's assassination were heard, including statements that "killing Trump is our duty, we will never abandon your revenge."

Earlier this week, Trump told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that the US struck back strongly after Iranian attacks on ships, adding, "They don't know what they're doing, they're bad people and need to be eliminated like cancer - sooner rather than later. For me, the ceasefire is over, talking to the Iranians is a waste of time."

About two and a half months ago, Trump was evacuated from a White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington after gunfire erupted. The suspect, 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen from California, was arrested and found to be targeting government officials but not Trump himself. Two years ago, the US Justice Department uncovered an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump before the election, involving an Iranian operative named Farhad Shakari who was instructed by the Revolutionary Guards to plan surveillance on Trump to facilitate a future assassination. Earlier that year, an unrelated shooting occurred at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, but no link was found between that incident and the Iranian assassination plans.