Iran denies attack claims but security heightened
TEHRAN: Iran has rejected accusations regarding plots to assassinate former U.S. President Donald Trump, while citing legal action for the 2020 assassination of a revered general by US drone, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.
IRNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as saying Iran “strongly rejects any involvement in the recent armed attack on Trump or claims about Iran’s intention for such an action.”
Kanaani added, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to pursue legal action against Trump for his direct role in the crime of assassinating Martyr General Qassem Soleimani.” Soleimani was the commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and was killed in a US drone attack in Baghdad in January 2020.
A threat on Trump’s life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before Saturday’s campaign rally, but it was unrelated to the assassination attempt on the Republican presidential nominee, two US officials said Tuesday.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, on Tuesday rejected the accusations against Tehran as “baseless” and “politically motivated.”
Trump shooter - still a mystery
After three days, an enigmatic portrait emerged of the 20-year-old man who came close to killing Donald Trump with a high-velocity bullet: He was an intelligent loner with few friends, an apparently thin social media footprint and no hints of strong political beliefs that would suggest a motive for an attempted assassination. Even after the FBI cracked into Thomas Matthew Crooks’ cellphone, scoured his computer, home and car, and interviewed more than 100 people, no motive was found. His political leanings were also hazy. He was registered as a Republican in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day Democratic President Joe Biden was sworn into office.