Israel warns U.S. of new Iranian plot to kill Trump

Israel warned the United States on July 9 that Iran was behind a new, specific plot to assassinate Donald Trump. The warning moved quickly from Israeli intelligence channels to U.S. officials as Washington weighed how far to escalate military pressure on Iran.

The White House declined to comment directly on the intelligence and instead pointed reporters to Trump’s own remarks. U.S. intelligence had already picked up a steady drumbeat of threats in recent weeks, but the Israeli warning was treated as new because it pointed to a specific plot.

Trump sharpened the public alarm on July 8 when he said, “I’m number one on the kill list for Iran.” The claim landed at a moment of renewed U.S.-Iran tension and mounting fear of a wider conflict, with instability around the Strait of Hormuz adding pressure to markets, shipping, and regional security calculations.

Iran’s hostility toward Trump stretches back to January 2020, when Trump ordered the strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force. U.S. officials have warned for years that Tehran would seek revenge. In July 2024, intelligence prompted the U.S. Secret Service to increase protection around Trump after learning of an Iranian assassination plot. Four months later, on Nov. 8, 2024, the Justice Department announced murder-for-hire charges in an alleged Iran-linked scheme aimed at Trump. Farhad Shakeri was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024 with providing a plan to kill then-President-elect Donald J. Trump, and the alleged network was directed by the Iranian regime. The plot was meant to avenge Soleimani’s death. In March 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the leader of an Iranian unit behind an attempted 2024 plot to assassinate Trump had been killed.