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Trump has been informed of ongoing Iranian death threats against him, the campaign says

Trump has been informed of ongoing Iranian death threats against him, the campaign says

Senior US intelligence officials informed former President Donald Trump on Tuesday about death threats from Iran against him, a spokesman for Trump's campaign team said.

“President Trump was briefed early this morning by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence of real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in order to destabilize the United States and create chaos,” spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.

Donald Trump looks up
Donald Trump at a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on July 31, 2024.Spencer Platt/Getty Images file

“Intelligence officials have determined that these sustained and coordinated attacks have increased in recent months, and law enforcement officials from all agencies are working to ensure that President Trump is protected and the election takes place without interference.”

A spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed Tuesday evening that a meeting had taken place, but declined to comment on details.

Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There was no immediate comment from the Harris campaign team.

The Secret Service tightened security around Trump this year when the Biden administration received intelligence about an alleged Iranian assassination plot against Trump. News of the increased security measures came days after Trump's July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania; officials said at the time there was no evidence of a connection between the Iranian plot and the assassination attempt at a campaign rally.

The Iranian mission in the United States dismissed the allegations of a murder plot as “baseless and malicious,” Iranian state media reported at the time.

Trump told the Daily Mail last month that he was refusing to attend intelligence briefings so he wouldn't be accused of leaking information. It was not immediately clear whether Trump had resumed regular briefings.

The Trump team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A second suspected attack on Trump occurred on September 15 in West Palm Beach, Florida. The suspect, Ryan Routh, was arrested that day and charged on Tuesday with attempted assassination of a presidential candidate in addition to other previous charges.

The Senate unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday that would give key presidential candidates such as Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris the same protections as President Joe Biden.

The bill now goes to the White House for signature. Biden recently said the Secret Service “needs more help.”

Trump's campaign accused Iran of a hacking attack in June, and U.S. authorities later confirmed that Iran was behind efforts to compromise both parties' presidential campaigns. Recently, intelligence agencies said Iranian actors hacked into Trump's campaign and sent non-public documents to Biden campaign staff.

Iran denied the allegations, with the country's ambassador to the United Nations calling them “completely baseless and devoid of any credibility and legitimacy,” the semi-official Fars news agency reported last week.

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