CNN claimed on Tuesday that the US Secret Service ramped up security around Donald Trump in recent weeks based on intelligence from a single “human source” that Iran was plotting to assassinate the former president, accusations Tehran rejected as “unsubstantiated and malicious.”
The report offered no evidence for the claim and only cited unnamed people “briefed on the matter.” They said there was no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who tried to assassinate Trump over the weekend, had any connection to the alleged plot.
The idea that the Secret Service increased security around Trump has been contested since Crooks was able to get off multiple shots from a nearby rooftop that wasn’t secured.
The report connected the alleged Iranian plot to Trump ordering the assassination of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who headed Iran’s Quds Force, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In response to the report, Iran’s mission to the UN said, “These accusations are unsubstantiated and malicious. From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Trump is a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in a court of law for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani. Iran has chosen the legal path to bring him to justice.”
IRGC officials occasionally vow they will seek revenge for Soleimani, who was killed on January 3, 2020, by a US drone strike in Baghdad. But amid soaring tensions in the Middle East, Iran has been clearly trying to avoid war with the US, and killing a former president would be a quick way to provoke direct military confrontation with the US.
This year, Iran engaged in indirect talks with the US in Oman to avoid escalation and also pressured its Shia allies in Iraq to stop attacking US bases after three US troops were killed at Tower 22 in Jordan.
When Iran launched a reprisal attack on Israel in response to the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria, Iranian officials said they warned the US 72 hours in advance. The US denied the claim, but Turkey and Jordan confirmed they were given notice, which would have come back to the US.
Iranians recently elected a reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, who wants to engage directly with the US even in the context of the likelihood of another Trump presidency, which marks a significant shift in Tehran’s policy. Pezeshkian is set to be inaugurated in August.