Israel Warned the US This Week That Iran Has a Fresh Plot to Kill Trump, as the Ceasefire Falls Apart
Israel told the US the warning was new and pointed to a specific plot, not the general chatter agencies had already been picking up for weeks. Trump says he’s now been told he ranks as Iran’s number one target.
The warning landed this week, and it described a specific plan rather than the steady stream of threats US intelligence had been tracking for weeks, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The US hadn’t vetted the plot or been following it before Israel passed it along. Iran has vowed for years to retaliate against Trump for ordering the 2020 drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, a top general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“They want to take out the US leader, me,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “I’m on whatever list. I saw this morning I’m on every single one of their lists.” He called Iran’s leadership “evil, sick people” and said “you’ve got to cut out cancer early.” He later said he’d learned of a new ranking that put him at the top of Iran’s assassination targets.
Some American officials are skeptical. They see the Israeli report as part of a broader effort to sway Trump as he decides whether to escalate military action against Iran, and parts of the intelligence community have long viewed Israeli reporting with caution.
The warning also lands in the middle of a widening rift between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu wants to keep striking Iran and finish out more war aims; Trump has been looking for a way out, citing the risk to the global economy. The two spoke by phone Thursday and, per Netanyahu’s office, agreed to keep up “coordination between the countries.” Netanyahu is expected in Washington soon. Early in the war the two talked constantly, with Netanyahu briefing Trump on Israeli targets and intelligence in late-night calls, but the Wall Street Journal reports those conversations have grown tense.
On the ground Thursday, crews aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln loaded fighter jets with armaments and pilots ran strike drills. Preparations were in place for possible strikes that night before officials stood them down in favor of diplomacy. The aircraft carrier’s commanding officer, Dan Keeler, told the crew things were heating up.
The 60-day ceasefire that paused the war is in tatters, with both sides trading threats and strikes. Over the weekend, crowds in Iran called for Trump’s death during funeral proceedings for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed when the fighting began, and mourners unfurled a banner reading “We Will Kill Trump.” Washington and Tehran are still working toward a nuclear deal by mid-August.
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