WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence agencies confirmed Wednesday that they have informed Donald Trump’s campaign about Iranian threats against the Republican presidential candidate.
The agency acknowledged in a statement to the Associated Press that the briefing took place, but declined to say whether there was evidence of a new plot targeting Trump or whether the briefing focused on previously reported threats from Iran.
In a statement Tuesday, campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said the meeting contained information about “real and specific” threats to “assassinate him in an effort to destabilize the United States and sow chaos.”
The Trump campaign declined to provide further details about Tuesday’s briefing.
Iran has not been linked to attempts on Trump’s life at a Pennsylvania rally in July or at his Florida golf course this month. Authorities shot and killed the gunman who shot Trump in the first attempt and arrested the suspect on the spot in the second.
US officials have long been concerned about Iran, which they see as a threat to both Trump and former Trump administration officials, and has been accused of trying to interfere in the US presidential election.
In July, authorities said they had received reports of an Iranian threat on Trump’s life and had beefed up the candidate’s security. The following month, a Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran was charged with plotting to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil. Police did not name the targets of the alleged plot, but court documents suggest Trump was a potential target.
Iranian hackers also stole information from Trump’s campaign and tried, without success, to interest news organizations and President Joe Biden’s campaign in the material. There is no indication that any of the recipients responded.
Along with Russia and China, Iran has also mounted a sprawling online influence operation to stoke discord and polarization ahead of the November election, intelligence officials said. Iran also opposes Trump’s re-election, seeing him as the candidate most likely to increase tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The Trump administration terminated a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iranian leaders to vow revenge.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with CBS This Morning that authorities are monitoring Iran’s threats against “a number of senior officials,” including Trump and people now serving in the Biden administration.
“This is something we have been following very intensively for a very long time,” Blinken said.
In 2022, an Iranian agent was charged in a plot to assassinate former national security adviser John Bolton, allegedly in retaliation for a US airstrike that killed Soleimani.
The Secret Service did not respond to requests for information about new threats against Trump or whether it had recently beefed up security for the campaign in response. But the agency has said publicly that the former president has received the highest level of protection the agency can provide since the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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Associated Press editor Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.
