Fears erupt over Iran’s desire to kill Trump

A reported new threat by Iran to assassinate President Trump served as a reminder this week of the risk that the hard-line Tehran regime poses to him, especially as a tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran breaks down and hostilities have resumed.

Reports surfaced this week that Israel shared intelligence with the U.S. indicating Iran was devising a plan to kill Trump. The development came on the heels of a security decision to have Trump depart the NATO summit in Turkey on the old Air Force One, which is understood to be more protective, instead of the newly refurbished Qatari-gifted jet. And it followed days of traded strikes and the revocation of Iran’s oil sanctions waiver.

Trump, who has been the subject of multiple assassination attempts, said himself upon leaving Turkey that he considered himself a target.

“The Iranian regime remains a clear and present danger to President Trump — and to the countless other Americans it has targeted for assassination and kidnapping on American soil,” said Nathan Sales, former State Department counterterrorism coordinator during the first Trump administration.

“The threat confirms the wisdom of reimposing economic sanctions and denying Tehran the resources it needs to fund terror plots worldwide,” he continued.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Israel had shared intelligence detailing an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Trump. CNN further reported Friday that sources said there was less of a specific plot but more talk among Tehran’s hard-liners about wanting to kill Trump. The network also reported some U.S. officials had cautioned the warnings could have been an attempt to sow division between Washington and Tehran amid negotiations to end the conflict.

Rounding out the week, Trump announced Friday the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is “over” but negotiations would continue between the two nations.

Sabrina Singh, a former Pentagon deputy press secretary under the Biden administration, called the threat credible.

“You have to take a threat like that seriously, and they did,” Singh said. “We have a good relationship with Israel when it comes to the sharing of intelligence, so it’s a good thing this was shared with the U.S.”

Tom Warrick, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, agreed the administration should take the threats seriously.

“A nation -state like Iran is a whole different order of magnitude and is much harder to defend against,” said Warrick, a former deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism policy at the Department of Homeland Security. “The resources are much greater. The possibility of them sending either a drone or a ballistic missile, or even an Iranian fighter jet to try to shoot down Air Force One needed to be taken very, very seriously.”

Iranian threats on Trump’s life are nothing new.

In 2024, Trump’s presidential campaign revealed it had been briefed on what it said were “real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States.”

In 2020, Trump ordered the drone strike that killed Iranian Major Gen. Qasem Soleimani, prompting backlash from the Iranian government. Previous administrations had chosen not to move ahead with striking Soleimani over fears of retaliation.

But the initial strikes on Iran by the U.S. and Israel in February may have only increased Iran’s motivation. Attacks killed the then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, leaving his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the new leader. Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife and son reportedly were also killed in the strikes.

“Gutsy calls on national security often place leaders in the crosshairs, and to his credit that has not stopped Trump from making them when circumstances warrant,” said John Ullyot, who served as National Security Council spokesman during Trump’s first term during the Soleimani strike.

Trump told the New York Post that he has “left instructions” if Iran is successful in its assassination attempt.

“I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with,” he said. “… The only thing is, I’ve left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.”

He refuted Israel’s intelligence — “No, no. Israel came up with nothing. No, no.”

“I’ve been No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time, and it’s the way life is, you know,” he said.

At the funeral for Khamenei on Thursday, signs read “We Will Kill Trump,” along with chants against America, according to reports.

Benham Ben Taleblu, the senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said he wasn’t surprised the intelligence came from Israel or that Iran may have this plot.

“This is a regime that means what it says. It’s put its money where its mouth is when it says ‘death to America, death to Israel’, and it has promised to take revenge against the Trump administration from term one for the killing of Soleimani,” he said.

He said he thinks this threat will follow Trump even when he leaves office.

“This regime, if this regime outlives the Trump administration, the death threat against the president is sure to continue,” he said.

He said Trump is “unique in the cosmology of hatred of the Islamic Republic because of the damage he’s been able to do.”

Given Trump has already been the target of assassination attempts, efforts have bolstered his already tight security apparatus for his travel and large, campaign-style events.

“With this new intelligence and threat from Iran, there might be things they have to reconsider,” Singh said.

Fears erupt over Iran’s desire to kill Trump

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