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Iran is actively plotting to kill the former US president, US officials have claimed
US officials claim that Iran wants to kill former President Donald Trump before the November election, Politico reported on Tuesday.
The Republican nominee survived an attempt on his life last week. It was not an Iranian plot, two senior officials told the outlet, but other acts of violence may come within weeks, they claimed. The prediction is based on assessments by the US intelligence community, which is increasingly confident about Iran’s intentions, according to the sources.
Tehran has denied that it wants to assassinate Trump, after a similar report by CNN earlier in the day. The network claimed that US Secret Service had ramped up security after receiving a tip about an active Iranian plot against the candidate.
The agency has come under scrutiny after Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, took an assault rifle to the roof of a building near a Trump election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last Saturday and fired multiple shots before being killed by snipers. His ear was grazed by one of the bullets.
Tehran has called Trump a criminal for ordering the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani in January 2020 when the Iranian official visited Iraq. The US president justified the decision by claiming that the general was actively plotting against American citizens.
Soleimani, who was a key figure in the regional fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), was celebrated as a national hero in his home country. Tehran retaliated for his killing by firing missiles at US military bases in Iraq days later. The American military was warned beforehand and had enough time to shelter the personnel.
A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied the allegations that his country intends to kill Trump and suggested that the claims were made with “malicious political motives and objectives.”
Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that Tehran is committed to prosecuting people responsible for the killing of Soleimani. “Iran will use all legal options inside the country and at the international level to bring the perpetrators to justice,” he said.
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