Israel shared intelligence with the United States that Iran had recently devised a new plan to assassinate President Donald Trump, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN, adding another layer of tension as a ceasefire deal between the countries comes under strain, writes CNN.
One of the sources said the warning came this week. Another source said the US had picked up a steady drumbeat of intelligence in recent weeks about possible plans to assassinate Trump, but the warning from Israel was new and concerned a specific plot. Other American officials suggested the Israeli report could be an effort to sway Trump’s decision-making as he weighs whether to intensify American military action against Iran.
The details of the plot that Israel warned about were not immediately clear, and two sources familiar with the matter said the US had not vetted it themselves nor were they tracking it before the Israeli warning. The US government has long warned that Iran may try to kill Trump in retaliation for the 2020 drone strike he ordered which killed a top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani.
Asked for comment on the Israeli warning, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the White House pointed to Trump’s recent comments on Iran’s desire to kill him.
“They want to take out the US leader — me,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “I’m on whatever list. I saw this morning I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a bit lucky, but maybe that doesn’t last very long. These are evil, sick people. And we have to root out that cancer. That cancer. You know what you do? You’ve got to cut out cancer early. And that’s the way I feel”.
Later, Trump said he’d recently learned of a new list that ranked him as Iran’s top assassination target. It’s not clear if he was referring to the new Israeli intelligence information.
Over the weekend, crowds of Iranians called for Trump’s death during funeral proceedings for the slain Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war. Tensions have ramped up between the US and Iran in recent days, with the two sides trading threats and strikes as a 60-day ceasefire ending hostilities is in tatters.