Israel shared intelligence with the U.S. that Iran recently developed a new plan to assassinate President Donald Trump. This was reported on Friday, July 10, by CNN citing two sources. The possible plan was also reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
CNN interviewee noted that in recent weeks the United States had been constantly receiving intelligence about possible plans to kill Trump, however the warning from Israel was new and involved a specific plot. U.S. intelligence services had not been tracking the relevant information in this particular case until they received the Israeli warning.
At the same time, a number of U.S. officials suggested that the Israeli report could be an attempt to influence Trump’s decision-making, as he is currently weighing whether to step up U.S. military actions against the Islamic Republic.
Donald Trump: “They want to eliminate the leader of the United States—me.”
On Wednesday, July 8, Trump hinted at threats to his life while speaking to journalists in Ankara.
“They want to eliminate the leader of the United States—me. I’m on every list. This morning I saw that I’m on every one of their lists. And for now, I guess I’ve been a little lucky, but maybe that won’t last very long,” Trump emphasized.
According to the office of the Israeli prime minister, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone on July 9 and agreed to continue “coordination of actions between the countries.” The statement also noted that the head of the White House informed Netanyahu about recent U.S. actions in the Persian Gulf.
In Iran, ceremonies were held to bid farewell to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In early July, Iran held public mourning ceremonies to bid farewell to the country’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war.
Together with Ali Khamenei, they were supposed to bury four more members of his family as well—also killed in the Israeli airstrike: his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. According to Iranian authorities, in Tehran alone, 15 to 20 million people could have attended the farewell ceremony.
Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28 as a result of a targeted Israeli airstrike on his residence in Iran’s capital. After that, Israel and the United States waged war against Iran for more than five weeks. A ceasefire has been in effect since the beginning of April.