President Biden quietly tasked his National Security Council to warn Iran that the US would view any Tehran-backed assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump as an act of war, according to a report.
Behind the scenes, the Harris-Biden administration has reportedly pressed Iran to halt its plottings against Trump and other former members of his administration amid elevated security threats from the US adversary.
“We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority, and we strongly condemn Iran for these brazen threats,” NSC spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement.
“Should Iran attack any of our citizens, including those who continue to serve the United States or those who formerly served, Iran will face severe consequences.”
The White House has refrained from publicly warning Iran that attempts on the lives of current or former US officials would be seen as an act of war, but Biden, 81, has told the NSC to make that known privately, according to the Washington Post.
Trump, 78, has called for a more forceful stand against Iran, suggesting last month that Biden should “inform the threatening country, in this case, Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens.”
On July 12, one day before the first of two attempts on Trump’s life, authorities detained Pakistani national Asif Merchant, 46, whom prosecutors have alleged in court documents had been conspiring with Iranian handlers to potentially target the former president.
Iran is also alleged to have supported a hack into the Trump campaign, which saw a private dossier about GOP vice presidential hopeful JD Vance leaked to several outlets, including Politico and The Washington Post.
That dossier has since been published by journalist Ken Klippenstein.
Tehran is widely believed to be keen on retribution against Trump and some of his former administration officials over the strike that killed former top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini promoted an animated video simulating a drone attack on Trump during an outing on his golf course back in 2022.
Two years ago, the Justice Department unsealed charges against an individual in Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps over alleged efforts to kill Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton, a well-known Iran hawk.
The Iranian official had allegedly offered $300,000 to take out Bolton, which the ex-official later bashed as embarrassingly low.
Key national security alums of the Trump administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien have been forced to take security precautions as well.
In June 2022, members of O’Brien’s Secret Service detail observed two Middle Eastern individuals following him during a visit to Paris, Politico reported.
Two former National Security Council officials in the Trump administration who dealt with Iran, Victoria Coates and Robert Greenway, claimed that Tehran hacked into their emails after the Soleimani strike, per the outlet.
“President Biden has reiterated his directive that the United States Secret Service should receive every resource, capability and protective measure required to address those evolving threats to the former president,” Savett, the NSC spox, added in a statement.