Trump security boosted weeks ago due to 'Iran plot'

Donald Trump listens to a question while speaking to members of the media on the South Lawn of the White House in 2019

Intelligence agencies have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump for years

(Image credit: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

published 17 July 2024

What happened

U.S. intelligence agencies have been tracking an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump in recent weeks, leading to increased Secret Service protections prior to this past weekend's attack on the Republican presidential candidate. The shooting at a Pennsylvania rally is not believed to be connected.

Details of the potential Iranian operation were obtained through "human source intelligence," a national security official said to CBS. This threat of an attack by a hostile foreign intelligence agency "raises new questions about the security lapses" at Saturday's rally in Butler, said CNN, which first reported on the Iranian plot. The Secret Service has "come under scrutiny" following the shooting, Reuters said.

Intelligence agencies have "been tracking Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials for years, dating back to the last administration," National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement. "These threats arise from Iran’s desire to seek revenge for the killing of Qassem Soleimani," the commander of Iran's Quds force, who died in a drone strike ordered by Trump in 2020.

The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations denied the assassination plot allegations, calling them "unsubstantiated and malicious" in a statement to CNN.

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.