U.S. President Donald Trump has faced assassination attempts here at home, and he’s now reportedly in the shadow of new threats from Iran.
That’s according to an exclusive report from The Wall Street Journal. Sources cited by the outlet said Israel shared new intelligence with the U.S. regarding the Iranian plot to kill the president.
This comes after Trump announced that a fragile ceasefire the two nations entered into last month had ended, with fresh strikes coming from both sides. War between the U.S. and Iran officially kicked off this February, when Trump said the U.S. would join Israel to attack the Islamic Republic.
However, tension between the U.S. and Iran goes back at least to the 1979 revolution that replaced Iran’s previous pro-U.S. government with its current theocratic regime and it increased in 2023 when Hamas, an Iran-funded Palestinian military group, attacked U.S. ally Israel and set off the Israel-Hamas War.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran has been threatening to kill Trump since his first term in office, following the killing of Iranian IRGC Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani by the U.S. in 2020. Last summer, Audacy reported on a comment Mohammad-Javad Larijani, a man who was once a senior advisor to one of Iran’s Supreme Leaders, that suggested Iran was considering assassinating Trump while he sunbathed at this Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Now, calls for Trump’s death are “featuring prominently in the ongoing mourning commemorations for slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” the Times of Israel noted. It also said that Trump “unexpectedly left Turkey this week aboard an older Air Force One rather than the newly renovated Qatari-donated jet that brought him there.”
The New York Times reported that the switch was done at the recommendation of the U.S. Secret Service as a security precaution. It also said that it was not in response to a concrete threat against the president.
“So, the older planes had this laser technology to blind an incoming missile. It’s unclear if the Qatari jet has those systems, so he flew on that old plane, but then he returned to the new Qatari gifted one when he landed in the UK later,” Lindsey Reiser of CBS News told Audacy station WCCO News and Talk in the Twin Cities this week.
Trump was in Turkey, a country that borders Iran, for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit. During the summit, Trump himself acknowledged Iran’s animosity towards him and said he’s not keen on further peace negotiations with the country.
“I’m their number one target,” said Trump of Iran. “Because they’re scum, that’s the way they act.”
Per The Times of Israel, it’s not clear from the Wall Street Journal report when the Israeli intelligence about the Iranian plot to kill Trump was relayed, or what channel it came through. While Trump has been supportive of Israel, the American public has not been particularly enthusiastic about the U.S. entering war with Iran, especially after the fighting resulted in a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that then made oil and gas prices spike worldwide. Audacy even reported on Trump becoming frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over continued hostilities in the Middle East as Republicans aim to keep control of the U.S. House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections.
Although Trump seemed wary of further negotiations with Iran during the NATO summit, he said Friday that the U.S. has agreed to further talks.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” Trump said on Truth Social.
