The Iranian regime's recent plot to assassinate former President Trump is part of a series of attempts by Tehran to target American officials and Iranian American dissidents. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has reportedly put bounties on the heads of Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and ex-National Security Advisor John Bolton in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, a prominent Iranian terrorist, in 2020. Soleimani was held responsible for the deaths of more than 600 American military personnel in the Middle East.
The Department of Homeland Security received intelligence from a human source about the planned Iranian assassination of Trump. This plot is separate from the previous assassination attempt on Trump by Thomas Crooks in Pennsylvania. Khamenei's determination to target Trump intensified after the 2020 drone strike that eliminated Soleimani in Iraq.
In 2022, an Iranian-produced animation video depicting the targeted assassination of Trump by the Islamic Republic was published by the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute and uploaded to Khamenei's official website. The video underscores the ongoing tensions between Iran and the United States, highlighting the dangerous escalation of hostilities between the two nations.
