Iran has been publicly threatening Trump and the people who oversaw his national security strategy since January 2020, when Trump ordered a drone strike that killed the former commander of the Quds Force, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Qassem Soleimani.
US intelligence officials were briefed Trump campaign Last month on assassination threats against former President of IranThe campaign said they had received warnings that the threat had “intensified in the past few months.”
The briefing came in the wake of two recent attempts on Trump’s life. No evidence was provided linking these attempts to Tehran.
However, Iran’s efforts to kill Trump and the former senior officials it blamed for the Soleimani strike are more comprehensive and aggressive than previously reported, according to dozens of officials familiar with the Iranian assassination threat.
“This is extremely serious,” said Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matt Olsen. “Iran has made clear that it is intent on retaliating against former officials in connection with the Soleimani strike.”
Protecting targets from Iran’s threats
According to Politico, while the US government has made unprecedented efforts to protect many of these officials, some who face similar threats do not receive any government protection.
Twenty-four people with direct knowledge of the Soleimani strike or the threat of assassination that followed that mass assassination spoke to Politico about hacking and digital surveillance efforts against former officials and their family members, and warnings… Federal Bureau of Investigation Personal report on new threats from Iran, and increasingly tense discussions about how to protect individuals, amid efforts by suspected Iranian operatives to track a US official during a trip abroad.
Many sources claim that the US government is still trying to deal with the Iranian threat and has not yet found a sustainable way to protect all those at risk.
Former National Security Policy Advisor to Senator Mitt Romney (Republican), Megan Rice, confirmed that “there were a number of people who were perhaps considered very important targets but who did not receive any significant support.”
Lawmakers recently raised more money to help the Departments of Defense and State provide an already unprecedented degree of protection for some of the former agency officials Iran seeks to kill, costing the federal government nearly $150 million annually.
But former National Security Council officials who some say are also on Iran’s hit list are mostly on their own. According to Politico.
She added that since they worked for the White House, they believed they should have their protection from the Secret Service.
