Netanyahu claims Iran tried to assassinate Trump

Daily Mail​

7 hours ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that two plots to assassinate Donald Trump's life were Iranian-backed. It was unclear if Netanyahu was referring to the attempts on Trump's life in Butler, Pennsylvania in July last year, and at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September, or post-election attempts foiled by the FBI in November. The Daily Mail reported last year that Trump has been a target of Iran ever since the slaying of military leader Qasem Soleimani. During the campaign, Trump asked for military planes and a larger Secret Service detail to protect him from Iranian threats. In September 2024, Trump said he would blow Iran 'to smithereens' if he was back in the White House and there were attempts by Tehran.
Netanyahu's revelations came during an interview with FOX News on Sunday's Special Report. 'You just said Iran tried to assassinate President Trump twice. Do you have intel that the assassination attempts on President Trump were directly from Iran?' host Bret Baier pressed the Israeli Prime Minister. 'Through proxies, yes. Through - through their intel, yes. They want to kill him. Look, he's enemy number one. He's a decisive leader, ' Netanyahu replied. 'He never took the path that others took to try to bargain with [Iran] in a way that is weak, giving them basically a pathway to enriched uranium, which means a pathway to the bomb, padding it with billions and billions of dollars,' Netanyahu continued.
'He took up this fake agreement and basically tore it up. He killed Qasem Soleimani. He said, made it very clear, including now, you cannot have a nuclear weapon, which means you cannot enrich. He's been very forceful. So, for them, he's enemy number one,' Netanyahu stated. 'Look, they also tried to kill me, but I'm his junior partner,' the Israeli Prime Minister concluded. Netanyahu also revealed that he and Trump had been in close contact prior to Israel's attack on key Iranian targets last week. Ahead of the G7 Summit in Alberta, Canada Monday morning, Trump was asked by members of the media how intimately he and Netanyahu were working together.
'We've always supported Israel' Trump responded, later adding that 'Israel is doing very well right now.' Both leaders' remarks come amid fears that Trump is being backed into a geopolitical corner by Israel after the president vetoed a plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , it emerged on Sunday. Israel and Iran resumed ferocious shelling Sunday as GOP hawks encouraged Israel's onslaught, opening up a split with the MAGA branch of the party which fears America will become mired in another Middle East war.
Netanyahu's remarks on the conflict came during an interview with FOX News on Sunday's Special Report , just days after Donald Trump 's Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned all options were on the table as nuclear Armageddon fears mounted. 'There were reports that President Trump kind of helped you achieve your strategic surprise by publicly urging you not to attack when he already knew you had decided to do it. So, you were closely coordinating with the U.S. throughout this process?' Baier pressed Netanyahu on Sunday. 'Look, we're fully coordinated, but understand that America, under President Trump, will make the decisions that are best for America,' Netanyahu noted.
'And the - that's the way it is. He understands that I, as the Prime Minister of Israel, the one and only Jewish state, must make the decisions that are important for the survival of my country, and he will do what is best for America. That is a relationship of mutual respect and mutual confidence,' Netanyahu added. Hegseth on Thursday echoed Netanyahu's line on the interwoven nature of America's relationship with Israel, particularly when it comes to Iran, when he was grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. California Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna asked if Hegseth will promise that America won't bomb Iran, unless directly attacked. The Defense Secretary suggested all options were on the table. 'Will you today assure the American people and the MAGA movement that you will not bomb Iran unless we are hit?' Khanna asked Hegseth.
The Defense Secretary replied: 'Well, here in this forum, it wouldn't be prudent for me to commit or not commit. My job is to be postured and prepared in the region.' A Progressive Democrat, Khanna told Hegseth that MAGA voices online were pressing the U.S. not to enter a direct conflict with Iran, also adding that 'when they're right I quote them.' Notably, Khanna has been a campaign surrogate for both former President Joe Biden, as well as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Hegseth also noted Thursday that 'the president is has been earnestly and completely committed to a peace process, has given Iran every opportunity, those talks ongoing, but he also fully recognizes the threat that Iran with a nuclear weapon would would exist.'
Pressed by Khanna on whether or not Netanyahu was 'itching for a fight' Hegseth also added that he knows 'that Bibi Netanyahu is going to put his country first and we're going to put our country first and we're positioned properly in the region uh to ensure that we're prepared for any potential contingency.' Hegseth also added that Trump is 'committed to creating the conditions for peace, creating the conditions for talks where Iran does not ability to develop a nuclear weapon.' Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social early Sunday morning to set the record straight on America's involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. 'The U.S. had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight,' the president wrote.
'If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.' 'However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!' he added. The president has consistently prided himself on being the only one of his compatriots to not start any new wars while being in office. Israel launched 'Operation Rising Lion' with a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days. Iran has vowed to 'open the gates of hell' in retaliation. Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores and raising fears of a wider conflict.
Israeli rescue teams combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13. Sirens rang out across Israel after 4 p.m. on Sunday in the first such daylight alert, and fresh explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv. In Iran, images from the capital showed the night sky lit up by a huge blaze at a fuel depot after Israel began strikes against Iran's oil and gas sector - raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state. Iran has not given a full death toll but said 78 people were killed on Friday and scores more have died since, including in a single attack that killed 60 on Saturday, half of them children, in a story apartment block flattened in Tehran.