Donald Trump is particularly exposed. In recent months, the Republican candidate for the November presidential election has been the target of two alleged assassination attempts. In mid-July 2024, he was shot and wounded in the right ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. On September 15, 2024, a 58-year-old man, Ryan Routh, was arrested after being put on the run by Secret Service agents who had spotted him with a weapon near the golf course where Donald Trump was playing.
In a self-published book published in February 2023 about the war in Ukraine, Ryan Routh, who was charged Tuesday with attempted assassination, spoke of a plan to “assassinate Donald Trump,” prosecutors said. In the writing, the suspect told Iran: “You are free to assassinate Donald Trump.” Tehran’s threats against the former president appear real, according to the former president’s campaign.
“Concrete” threats of assassination
Donald Trump’s campaign team indicated on Tuesday, September 24, that it had been informed by American intelligence of “concrete” threats of assassination against the Republican candidate, emanating from Iran. “President Trump was informed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence of real and concrete threats from Iran aimed at assassinating him,” his spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. According to this campaign official, citing American intelligence, these “continued and coordinated attacks” have intensified “over the last few months.”
The U.S. Justice Department did not provide further details on the allegations, and it was not immediately clear whether the threats it was referring to were new or had been reported before. BBC reports.
Threats mentioned this summer
Last July, shortly after the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump, CNN reported that US authorities had received intelligence from a “human source” regarding a plan hatched by Tehran to eliminate the Republican candidate.
The US National Security Council responded to this information by stating that it had been following “Iran’s threats against the former administration of Donald Trump for years”. Tehran does not hide its desire for revenge after the death of Qassem Soleimani, former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, killed by a US drone attack in January 2020 in Baghdad. It was Donald Trump, then in the White House, who had ordered the elimination of Qassem Soleimani.
On August 6, the United States announced that it had foiled the assassination on its soil of government officials plotted by Asif Merchant, a Pakistani according to them linked to Iran, to avenge the death of Qassem Soleimani. “For years, the Justice Department has worked tirelessly to counter Iran’s attempts to retaliate against American officials for the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani,” said Secretary Merrick Garland. “The Justice Department has prosecuted numerous cases against individuals acting on behalf of the Iranian government to kill Americans in the United States,” said Merrick Garland, before warning: “These threats are likely to continue and this case is not the last.”
Hacking attempts
In mid-August 2024, the United States had pointed the finger at Iran’s responsibility, this time for several hacking attempts against the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. One of them was revealed on August 10 by the Republican candidate’s team. According to the American authorities, Iranian hackers sent to the campaign team of Joe Biden, who has since withdrawn from the race for the White House, documents “stolen” from the Republican billionaire’s team.
Trump and Iran’s reactions
Donald Trump responded to these risks on Wednesday. “Iran poses a major threat to my life. The entire United States military is watching and waiting,” the former president wrote on his social network Truth Social. “Iran has taken steps before that have not worked, but they will try again. […] I am surrounded by more men, guns and weapons than I have ever seen before.” For Donald Trump’s spokesman, these “threats” illustrate the fact that “the terrorist regime in Iran loves the weakness of Kamala Harris and is terrified of the power and determination of President Trump.”
Iran had rejected similar accusations this summer, calling them “malicious,” according to a spokesman for the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations. “In our view, Donald Trump is a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in court for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani. Iran has chosen the legal path,” he told CNN.
Two years ago, Tehran had already called “ridiculous” accusations by the US justice system that a member of the Revolutionary Guards had plotted to kill John Bolton when he was national security adviser to then-President Donald Trump. On August 10, 2022, the US Justice Department said that the Iranian, Shahram Poursafi, had been indicted in absentia for offering to pay $300,000 to individuals in the United States to kill John Bolton.