“Iran has chosen the legal path to bring him to justice,” the Iranian Mission to the U.N. told Newsweek.
Iran has denied any connection to an alleged plot to kill former President Donald Trump reportedly identified by U.S. intelligence, asserting that the Republican front-runner must still face criminal justice over the slaying of one of the Islamic Republic’s most powerful generals.
The alleged plot, first reported Tuesday by CNN based on multiple unnamed sources, was said to have been obtained by U.S. intelligence from a human source in recent weeks and led to an increase in U.S. Secret Service security around Trump, who suffered a gunshot wound to his right ear in an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday. The shooter, identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks, is not believed to have any ties to the supposed Iran-tied plot, according to the report.
In response to the news, the Iranian Mission to the United Nations told Newsweek that “these accusations are unsubstantiated and malicious.”
“From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Trump is a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in a court of law for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani”, the Iranian Mission said. “Iran has chosen the legal path to bring him to justice.”
Responding to Newsweek’s request for comment, Secret Service Communications Chief Anthony Guglielmi said that “the Secret Service and other agencies are constantly receiving new potential threat information and taking action to adjust resources as needed.”
“We cannot comment on any specific threat stream other than to say that the Secret Service takes threats seriously and responds accordingly”, he added.
Iranian officials have repeatedly called for Trump and other senior officials of his administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to face prison time over the killing of Soleimani along with his entourage at Baghdad International Airport in January 2020.
