The candidate for the presidency of the Republican Party in the USA Donald Trump was informed by American intelligence about death threats against him by Iran, they said Reuters and DPA, citing a statement from his election campaign, BTA reported.
"President Trump was briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding real and specific threats from Iran to kill him in an effort to sow chaos and destabilize the United States," said a statement from the spokesman his campaign Stephen Chen.
"Intelligence officials have determined that these ongoing and coordinated attacks have intensified over the past several months,” Chen said, adding that US government officials are working to protect Trump and ensure that the election is free of interference. Iran has repeatedly denied US allegations of meddling in American affairs. Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An intelligence spokesman confirmed the conversations with Trump, but declined to elaborate. Earlier this month, a Pakistani man said to be linked to Iran pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an alleged plot to kill an American politician in response to the 2020 US assassination of Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani. The accused named Trump as a potential target, but did not conceive of the scheme as a plan to kill the former president, according to a source familiar with the matter, Reuters noted.
Federal authorities are also investigating the attempted assassination of Trump on his Florida golf course, not far from his Mar a Lago estate, in the middle of this month and the shooting of the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. There is no indication of Iranian involvement in either case.
Last week, US government agencies said Iranian hackers sent emails containing stolen campaign material from the former president to people involved in the re-election campaign of then-Democratic candidate and current president Joe Biden, part of the alleged -wide-ranging efforts by Tehran to influence the country's elections.
Biden withdrew as the Democratic presidential nominee in late July and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris, who faced off against Trump in a tight race for the upcoming Nov. 5 election. In August, the United States accused Iran of launching cyber operations against the campaigns of both candidates – accusations that Iran has denied. Tehran claims Washington has been meddling in its affairs for decades, citing events that span from the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh to the 2020 killing of elite commander General Soleimani in a strike with an American unmanned aerial vehicle on the outskirts of Baghdad in Iraq, notes Reuters.