Iran has rejected reports over an alleged plan to assassinate former US president Donald Trump, who was injured in an attempt on his life at a campaign rally last weekend.
US broadcasters CNN and NBC, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, reported the US Secret Service ramped up security for Trump in recent weeks after receiving information on a potential Iranian plot to kill him.
A spokesman for Iran’s UN mission rejected the reports as "baseless and politically motivated.”For Iran, Trump is a "criminal” who gave the order to kill Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020, the spokesman was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency Mehr on Wednesday.
"Trump must be condemned and punished for this, but Iran has chosen the legal path in this regard,” he added.
Soleimani, who had led the elite Quds Force of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq in 2020, while Trump was president.
According to the reports, there is no evidence that the alleged Iranian plot is connected to Saturday’s shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump, who is vying for a second presidential term, survived the attack with injuries to his ear, but one person in the crowd was killed.
The US Secret Service declined to comment on the reports, with a spokesman saying the agency constantly receives new information about threats and reacts to them. (DPA)