Iran May Try to Assassinate Donald Trump, Other Ex-Top Officials as Revenge for Killing Top General, US Intelligence Report Warns

A new U.S. intelligence report has warned that Iran might be planning to assassinate former President Donald Trump and other ex-top officials to avenge the death of its top general, Qassem Soleimani.

The report came from the National Counter Terrorism Center, which issued the intelligence assessment just two days before President Joe Biden announced his current Middle East tour.

Daily Mail reported that the intelligence report named Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and other former top officials as "priority targets" for being part of the January 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Soleimani while he was on a trip to Iraq.

The intelligence report is marked as unclassified and "for official use only." However, it was widely distributed inside the government and law enforcement agencies across the country.

The report noted that Iran has publicly expressed "a willingness to conduct lethal operations" inside the U.S. since January 2021 and has consistently identified Trump, Pompeo, and former CENTCOM Commander General Kenneth McKenzie as among its priority targets for retribution.

The report added that Iran is "waging a multipronged campaign" to avenge the general's death, which includes international legal maneuvering, "threats of lethal action," and the "issuance of Iranian arrest warrants and sanctions."

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei shared an animated video in January that seemed to show a robot calling in a drone strike on Donald Trump while he was playing golf in Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Iran's Plot to Assassinate Donald Trump and Other U.S. Officials

According to Yahoo News, the intelligence report seems to be part of the Biden administration's efforts to call attention to the threat posed by the Iranian regime. A National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson did not comment on the intelligence report itself.

However, the spokesperson noted that the U.S. will "protect and defend its citizens," including those serving the U.S. now and those "who formerly served."

There were previous concerns about retaliatory attacks after Qassem Soleimani's death. It prompted Congress to allot $15 million for security for departing Mike Pompeo and others.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, an expert on Iran and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Soleimani was the "chief architect of Iran's regional policy."

In addition, he also has a connection between terrorists abroad and Tehran. He added that some U.S. officials need constant security due to the threats, noting that it should be a wake-up call to those "who only see Tehran as a potential proliferation problem."

The newly released intelligence report raises questions about how the Biden administration would respond to the threat. The NSC said in a statement that the Biden administration and U.S. allies are "preparing equally for scenarios" and that the president will do "what is in the best interest of U.S. national security."

On Wednesday, Joe Biden landed in Israel for the first part of his trip to the Middle East, after which he is expected to fly to Saudi Arabia. Reports said the U.S. government believes the threat of an attack is still high.

Iran's Qassem Soleimani Assassination

Qassem Soleimani was Iran's longtime leader of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, the foreign-facing branch of the country's security apparatus.

According to The New York Times, Soleimani worked closely with Iraqi and Lebanese allies. He was designated as a terrorist by the U.S. and Israel, but many in Iran consider him a hero.

The Pentagon had accused the top Iranian general of planning attacks on American diplomats and service members. It also accused Soleimani of approving an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

U.S. officials have blamed Qassem Soleimani for the killings of Americans in the Iraqi war through his distribution of bomb-making equipment and training to Iraqi insurgents.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: U.S. Airstrike Kills Iranian General Qassem Soleimani - From ABC News