Donald Trump will make a decision on whether to involve the US in the Israel-Iran conflict amid reports that Tehran tried to assassinate him. Benjamin Netanyahu made a bold assertion during a Fox News interview, claiming Iran had “marked Donald Trump as enemy number one” and had “actively worked to assassinate him”.
This claim was then echoed by Republican Senator Ted Cruz in his viral clash with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this week.
The Israeli prime minister said Iran’s Islamic regime viewed the US president as the primary threat to its nuclear ambitions and sought revenge for the January 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Mr Netanyahu argued this was further proof of Tehran’s intention to strike high-value targets both within and beyond its borders. In November 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed an indictment charging Farhad Shakeri, believed to be acting on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with plotting to assassinate Mr Trump.
Prosecutors claim that Shakeri, whilst in Tehran, had multiple interviews with the FBI in which he confessed to being tasked with surveilling and killing Mr Trump in the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
The criminal complaint reveals that a senior IRGC official instructed Shakeri in September 2024 to prioritise the plot over other assignments.
When Shakeri expressed concerns about the cost, he was reportedly told, “We have already spent a lot of money”, suggesting that the regime was prepared to fund a continued effort to assassinate Mr Trump.
Christopher Wray, then director of the FBI, said in the same month: “Iran has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on US soil, and that simply won’t be tolerated”.
The DOJ confirmed that Shakeri had recruited two US-based men in another plot to kill Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad. Both men were arrested in New York, while Shakeri remains at large in Iran.
Intelligence officials also briefed Mr Trump in September 2024 about what were described as “real and specific” threats from Iran.
The president’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said the threats had grown more frequent and coordinated as the election approached.
The Iranian government has denied these allegations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei called the charges “baseless” despite US officials insisting that numerous assassination attempts had been foiled since 2021.