U.S. received Iran’s written assurance it was not actively trying to assassinate Trump
CBS News has confirmed that the United States received written assurances from Iran ahead of the presidential election that its leadership was not actively trying to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump, according to sources with direct knowledge of the letter. The news comes after the White House confirmed in September that the killing of a former US president or former US official would be considered an act of war by the Biden administration.
“We consider this to be the highest national and homeland security priority, and we strongly condemn these outrageous threats from Iran,” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savitt said in a statement in September.
Iran said in messages relayed by third parties that it understood this premise. wall street journal First notified the United States of information about Iran
The Justice Department is currently prosecuting at least two individuals accused of participating in a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate Trump when he was a candidate. one operational Working for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, he told federal investigators that his mission in September was to “surveillance and ultimately assassination.” trump cardaccording to court records made public last week.
Farhad Shakeri, who is believed to live in Iran, told investigators in a telephone interview that unnamed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials urged him to plan an attack on Iran, prosecutors said. trump card It will be held in October. If the plan does not materialize in time, Iranian officials instructed Shaqri to delay the plan until after the election because the official “assessed (Trump) would election failure“, charging documents state.
In early August, a Pakistani national with alleged ties to Iran was arrested arrested and charged and conspiring to carry out a murder-for-hire scheme to target U.S. government officials and politicians, according to charging documents released Tuesday.
One U.S. official noted that Iran did not task its most effective proxy, Hezbollah, with carrying out these plots. The official described Iran’s approach so far as “if it works, great. If it doesn’t work, that’s not a problem.”
In response to a query that Iran told the United States it would not try to kill Trump, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran said it would not comment on official information between the two countries.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has long declared its commitment to pursuing the assassination of martyr Soleimani through legal and judicial channels, while fully complying with universally recognized principles of international law,” the delegation said in a statement.
Trump has fueled Iranian anger for several reasons. He withdrew from the international Iran nuclear deal, which lifted some sanctions in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear program. He also directed the 2020 Air strikes cause casualties Iran’s top commander, General Qasem Soleimani. Several Trump administration and military officials have since received threats from the regime, including, Robert O’BrienServes as national security adviser during strike. There have also been threats against his predecessor, John Bolton, who was part of a maximum pressure campaign to impose sanctions on Tehran.
In 2022, the U.S. intelligence community assesses that Iran will threaten Americans – whether directly attacking or through proxy attacks – are committed to developing networks within the United States. Two continuous threat assessment reports submitted to Congress by the U.S. State Department in January 2022 stated that the life of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was affected. “serious and credible threat” and Brian Hook, the former Trump administration’s special envoy for Iran. In 2021 and 2022, the State Department determined that a round-the-clock diplomatic security detail funded by U.S. taxpayers was needed to protect the two men, according to nonpublic assessments. This situation continues to this day.
Multiple former officials told CBS they have recently received duty-to-warn notices from the FBI and other agencies regarding the ongoing threat from Iran and Iranian-paid actors, meaning the U.S. is taking the threat seriously rather than treating it as a threat. The Iranian threat is taken seriously. The regime’s guarantees were superficial.
contributed to this report.
