Trump Repeatedly Said Iran Could Seek To Assassinate Him. There Was New Intelligence Behind The Claims, a Report Shows
Israel recently alerted the U.S. that Iran had devised a new plan to assassinate President Donald Trump, according to a new report.
CNN detailed that the warning took place this week. One source told the outlet that the U.S. had picked up intelligence about potential plans to target the president, but Israel provided new information about a specific plot.
However, other officials claimed that the intelligence could be aimed at convincing Trump to make a decision related to the war in Iran as the countries escalated strikes in the Strait of Hormuz this week.
Asked about the matter, the White House referred to comments from Trump this week. “They want to take out the US leader, me,” he said on 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,” he added.
He went on to say that he had recently learned that he was Iran’s top target for assassination. It was unclear whether he was talking about the information passed on by Israel.
Tensions remain elevated in the meantime. Traffic through the Hormuz Strait decreased again following the renewed clashed, data shows.
Matt Smith, director of commodity research at the trade intelligence firm Kpler, told CNBC that only 13 ships crossed the waterway on Wednesday, compared to an average of 33 per day over the previous week.
The Joint Maritime Information Center again raised the threat level in the Strait of Hormuz to severe after clashes resumed.
It is the second-highest level in the NGO’s scale, only behind critical. It had been lowered to substantial after the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war and kick off nuclear negotiations.
Trump said he doesn’t “know” whether the U.S. and Iran are set to go back to a full-scale war, but claimed Tehran “badly” wants to deescalate the renewed hostilities.
Speaking to press aboard Air Force one while returning to the U.S., he said that should such a scenario take place, the U.S. would “win it very quickly.”
“They have very little left, and they want to make a deal so badly. They called a little while ago. They want to make a deal so badly. I just don’t know if they’re worthy of making a deal. I don’t know that they’re going to honor the deal. That’s the problem,” he added.
Despite all, the U.S. is set to engage in “technical talks” with Iran and aims to negotiate a solution to the conflict, an official told MS Now.
