Trump briefed by officials about Iranian threats to his life, campaign says

WASHINGTON (TND) — Former President Donald Trump has been briefed by U.S. intelligence officials about specific threats from Iran to assassinate him, according to a campaign spokesperson.

On Tuesday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence informed Trump about "real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States," Trump campaign communications directorSteven Cheung said in a statement.

"Intelligence officials have identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months, and law enforcement officials across all agencies are working to ensure President Trump is protected and the election is free from interference," Cheung said.

During a campaign event in North Carolina Wednesday afternoon, Trump said “We’ve been threatened very directly by Iran.”

And I think you have to let them know because the best way to do it is through the Office of the President that, you do any attacks on former presidents or candidates for president, your country gets blown to smithereens, as we say,” Trump said.

In an interview earlier in the day, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the issue.

"This is something we've been tracking very intensely for a long time, an ongoing threat by Iran against a number of senior officials, including former government officials like President Trump and some people who are currently serving in the administration. So it's something we take very, very seriously. We're looking at it very carefully," Blinken said.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said he is "surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever seen before." And, "An attack on a former president is a Death Wish for the attacker.”

Iran denied the allegations.

In an interview Tuesday, Iran's Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran does not have an interest in U.S. elections.

“We do not assassinate people but the fact of the matter is, they assassinated a revered Iranian general, General Soleimani," Zarif said, referring to a deadly strike against Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani ordered by Trump during the final days of his presidency.

At the time, Trump said, “Soleimani made the death of innocent people his sick passion.”

For months, U.S. intelligence officials have been warning about Iranian efforts to influence the election.

A joint statement last month from the ODNI, FBI andCybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said, "Iran perceives this year’s elections to be particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests, increasing Tehran’s inclination to try to shape the outcome. We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting Presidential campaigns."