Israel warns US of new Iran plot to assassinate Trump: What to know

Israel has warned the United States that Iran may be preparing a plot to assassinate President Donald Trump as a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran continues to unravel.

What happened: Israel has shared intelligence with the US suggesting Iran may be preparing a new plot to assassinate Trump, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Thursday that cited people familiar with the matter.

CNN reported Friday that US intelligence agencies had received a steady stream of threat information in recent weeks about possible assassination plans targeting Trump. The Israeli warning, however, pointed to a specific alleged plot.

The nature of the alleged plot remains unclear. Two sources familiar with the matter told CNN that US intelligence agencies had neither independently verified the information nor been tracking the alleged scheme before Israel shared the warning.

Speaking about Iran to reporters with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday, Trump said, “They’re dirty players, so they go after everyone, probably including me. I’ve been number one on their list for years.”

“They want to take out the US leader,” he added. “I saw things this morning; I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn’t last very long.”

Background: The latest report would not mark the first alleged Iranian plot targeting Trump. Since he ordered the 2020 US drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, US officials have repeatedly warned that Tehran could seek retaliation by targeting the president. Iranian officials have repeatedly vowed to avenge Soleimani's death.

In November 2024, the Justice Department unsealed criminal charges alleging that Iranian operative Farhad Shakeri had been directed by the IRGC to develop a plan to surveil and assassinate Trump, the president-elect. Prosecutors said Shakeri told FBI investigators that he was instructed to devise the plot within seven days, though he claimed he did not intend to carry it out within that timeframe.

Months earlier, federal prosecutors charged a Pakistani national with alleged ties to the IRGC in a separate murder-for-hire scheme targeting current and former US officials, including Trump. A federal jury found him guilty in March 2026.

Know more: The reports come as a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran has broken down, with both sides resuming military action. The latest escalation began Tuesday, when three commercial vessels were struck while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The US said Iran was responsible and responded with strikes on more than 80 Iranian military targets, including air-defense systems, command-and-control facilities, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities and more than 60 IRGC small boats operating in or near the strait.

On Wednesday, Iran retaliated with strikes on Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Iranian state media said that Iran had targeted Patriot air-defense systems in Kuwait, an early-warning satellite antenna in Qatar and US fuel storage facilities in Bahrain. Kuwait reported that one person was injured by falling shrapnel, while no casualties have been reported in Qatar or Bahrain.

The US launched another wave of strikes overnight Wednesday into Thursday. US Central Command said the operation targeted roughly 90 Iranian military sites in an effort to further degrade Tehran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

On Friday, however, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that Iran had asked the US to continue talks. "We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!" he wrote.