Iran assures US ‘we’re not trying to kill Trump’ after warning from Biden

Iran sent a message to the Biden administration in October saying it was not trying to kill Donald Trump, as Tehran attempted to ease rising tensions with Washington, say United States officials, as well as an Iranian official and an analyst.

The message, sent to Washington through an intermediary, came after a note from the Biden administration in September that warned the US would consider any Iranian attempt on the life of Trump, then the Republican candidate for president, to be “an act of war”.

An artist’s rendering of Donald Trump in a prison suit and handcuffs in Iranian newspaper Hamshahri with the headline “Return of the murderer”. Credit: AP

Since Trump won the November 5 election, many Iranian former officials, pundits and media outlets have been publicly advocating for Tehran to engage with the President-elect and pursue a more conciliatory approach, despite vows from Trump’s allies to renew a high-pressure campaign against Iran.

US officials have said Iran sought to kill Trump in revenge for ordering the 2020 drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander who directed Iran’s militias and proxy forces. The Department of Justice has issued two indictments that officials said were related to Iranian plotting against Trump.

US officials have also accused Iran of plotting to assassinate other Trump administration figures.

The officials interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic messages.

The message exchange was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The message from Iran repeated Tehran’s contention that the killing of Soleimani was a criminal act, the two US officials said. But it also said Iran did not want to kill Trump, according to the US officials, an Iranian official and an Iranian analyst who talks with both sides.

The Iranians said the message to the US indicated Iran sought to avenge the killing of Soleimani through international legal means.

The US officials said the Iranian message was not a letter from a specific official. However, the Iranian official and analyst said it was from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations declined to comment on the message exchange. But it said in a statement that Iran was committed to responding to Soleimani’s killing “through legal and judicial avenues”.

Iranian demonstrators hold up posters of the late Revolutionary Guard Qassem Soleimani.Credit: AP

During the presidential campaign, US officials warned that Iran was plotting to kill Trump.

Federal prosecutors in New York said last week that Iranian plotters had discussed a plan to assassinate him, a claim that Iran’s Foreign Ministry called baseless.

In July, Asif Raza Merchant, a Pakistani man who had visited Iran, was arrested in New York and later charged with trying to hire a hitman to assassinate American politicians. Investigators believe potential targets included Trump.

Intelligence about Iran’s intentions was provided to the Secret Service, which added counter-sniper teams to Trump’s protective detail even before the attempted assassination attempt on him in July, in Butler, Pennsylvania, by a lone gunman with no ties to Tehran, according to US officials.

Iran had considered Trump to be a difficult target because of his Secret Service protection. But after the Pennsylvania incident and another near Trump’s golf course in Florida, US intelligence agencies assessed that Iran grew more confident the former president could be successfully targeted.

That assessment of a growing threat, combined with the attempts on Trump’s life, prompted both an intense security review and a diplomatic campaign to convince Iran that it was making a grave miscalculation, officials said.

Iranians demonstrate in front of the former US embassy in Tehran on the 45th anniversary of the hostage crisis there.Credit: Getty Images

Elon Musk, who has become a close ally of Trump, met Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, at Musk’s request, the Iranians said – a sign that the Democratic administration and the Trump camp alike are looking to avoid a direct clash. The Iranians said the meeting with Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, at a secret location in New York, was about defusing tensions between Iran and the US under the Trump administration.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

The US and Iran have not had official diplomatic relations since Iran’s 1979 revolution, when 52 Americans were taken hostage in the US embassy in Tehran and held for more than a year.

The Swiss embassy in Tehran is the official diplomatic liaison between the nations, although US and Iranian officials have held direct and indirect negotiations in recent years on a host of issues, including Iran’s nuclear program, regional tensions and swapping detainees.

The US and Iranian messages were sent through the Swiss, according to the Iranian official and the analyst.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.