US receives intelligence on Iranian plot to assassinate Trump amid heighten security: Report

WASHINGTON

The US recently received intelligence from a human source regarding an Iranian plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump, according to a report Tuesday.

CNN, citing multiple people briefed on the matter, said the intelligence prompted the Secret Service to step up security around the former president in recent weeks.

It said that there is no indication linking Thomas Matthew Crooks, the deceased gunman who attempted to kill Trump, to the Iranian plot.

Law enforcement officials have been worried for months about a continued threat of Iran potentially attempting to assassinate former Trump administration officials and the former president, said the network.

Iran's UN mission, meanwhile, denied the "unsubstantiated and malicious" accusations.

"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. Iran has chosen the legal path to bring him to justice," it said in a statement to Anadolu.

Iran has repeatedly threatened retribution for the US killing of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in January 2020.

Trump, who is seeking reelection, was the subject of an attempted assassination during a rally in the US state of Pennsylvania on Saturday. He had an injury to his right ear.

The former president made his first appearance Monday since the assassination attempt at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

*Serife Cetin in New York contributed to the story