TEHRAN, Jul 18 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, yesterday dismissed U.S. media reports of Tehran’s plot of an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
In a statement released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry early yesterday, Kanaani made the remarks in response to CNN’s claim on Tuesday that, U.S. authorities “obtained intelligence from a human source in recent weeks, on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Trump, a development that led to the Secret Service beefing up security around the former president.”
Kanaani stressed that, Iran was determined in Trump’s prosecution, owing to his direct role in the “crime” of assassinating top Iranian commander, Qassem Soleimani, in Iraq in Jan, 2020.
However, Tehran strongly rejected any involvement in the recent armed attack against Trump, or claims that the country intended to take such an action, said Kannani, noting, “Such claims are made based on biased political objectives and motivations.”
Trump survived, albeit with an ear injury, an assassination attempt by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, which left one spectator dead and two critically injured.
CNN, in its report, quoted a U.S. national security official as saying that, the Secret Service and Trump campaign had been made aware of Iran’s “threat” before Saturday’s rally.
The report, however, said there was no indication that Crooks was connected to the plot.
Iran’s UN mission rejected CNN’s claim as “baseless and biased” in a statement issued in New York.
It added that, from Iran’s perspective, Trump “should be punished at a court, for ordering Soleimani’s assassination,” stressing that, however, Tehran had chosen a legal path, to hold Trump to account.– NNN-IRNA
