Washington, DC [US], July 17 : The United States had received intelligence from a human source about an Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump weeks before the assassination attempt against the former US President on Saturday, according to national security officials. This led to increased security measures for Trump.
Officials, however, said that there is no known connection between this Iranian plot and the 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate Trump on Saturday.
The US Secret Service and the Trump campaign were notified of the Iranian threat, and security was boosted as a result, as confirmed by a US national security official.
Trump and his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, have faced threats from Tehran since the 2020 drone strike that killed Qassim Soleimani, the leader of Iran's Quds force, in Iraq.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the US Secret Service, said that it and other agencies were "constantly receiving new potential threat information and taking action to adjust resources as needed." He added, "We cannot comment on any specific threat stream, other than to say that the Secret Service takes threats seriously and responds accordingly."
Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said that US security officials had been "tracking Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials for years."
The Iranian mission at the United Nations dismissed the report as "unsubstantiated and malicious," adding that Trump "is a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in a court of law."
Former President Donald Trump made his first public appearance at the Republican National Convention on Monday (local time) since surviving the assassination attempt on Saturday.
Wearing a white bandage on his right ear, Trump waved at supporters and received a standing ovation from the audience. He made no remarks during the convention and stood alongside his newly announced running mate, Senator JD Vance.
Trump was on stage at a campaign rally on Saturday when gunshots rang out and Secret Service agents stormed the stage. Hours after the shooting, Trump said that the bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear. One of the rally attendees was killed, while two more were critically injured in the shooting.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The case remains under investigation.
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