Trump warned by US intelligence of assassination threats from Iran

Donald Trump has been informed by US intelligence about specific threats from Iran aiming to assassinate him, his campaign announced.

The Republican presidential candidate was briefed on "real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States," the campaign stated. Further details were not provided, and it is unclear if these threats are recent or previously known.

The Iranian government has not yet responded to requests for comment, although Tehran has historically denied US allegations of interfering in American affairs.

Trump took to the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), asserting that there are "big threats on my life by Iran." He claimed that previous assassination attempts by Iran had failed but warned that they would try again. He described an attack on him as a "death wish by the attacker" and expressed gratitude to Congress for allocating more funds to the Secret Service.

Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign's communications director, added that "intelligence officials have identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months." He assured that law enforcement agencies are working to protect Trump and ensure the election process remains unaffected by such threats.

The BBC has reached out to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for further comments.

This news follows an assassination attempt on Trump on July 13, where he was injured, and another individual was killed during a rally in Pennsylvania. The motive behind this attack is still under investigation. Subsequently, US media reported that officials had received intelligence about an Iranian plot against the former president, which Iranian officials dismissed as "malicious" at the time.

Trump, on his Truth Social platform, had previously expressed strong sentiments, suggesting severe repercussions for Iran if an assassination attempt on him were successful. He stated, "If they do 'assassinate President Trump,' which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth. If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered 'gutless' cowards!"

In another incident on September 15, a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The agent fired at the individual as Trump was playing golf. Ryan Wesley Routh was later charged with the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, although no connections to Iran were suggested.

Additionally, the Trump campaign reported last month that some of its internal communications had been hacked, suspecting Iranian operatives. This follows a 2022 incident where a member of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps was charged by the US for plotting to kill Trump's former National Security Advisor John Bolton, in retaliation for the US strike that killed Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.